Resolving Hubble Tension by Self-Interacting Neutrinos with Dirac Seesaw

Abstract

Self-interacting neutrinos that begin to free-stream at close to matter-radiation equality can reduce the physical size of photon sound horizon at last scattering surface. This mechanism can be the reason why standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology sees a lower value of the Hubble constant than local measurements from distance ladder. We propose a new realization of self-interacting Dirac neutrinos (SID$\nu$) with light-dark-photon mediator for a viable interaction mechanism. Our model is UV completed by a Dirac seesaw with anomaly-free dark $U(1{)}_X^{}$ gauge group which charges the right-handed neutrinos. This model naturally generates small masses for Dirac neutrinos and induces self-scattering of right-handed neutrinos. The scattering with left-handed neutrinos is suppressed by a chirality-flip mass insertion when the neutrino energy is much larger than its mass. The resultant neutrino self-scattering is not operative for $E_{\nu }\gtrsim O(\text{keV})$, which avoids the cosmological and laboratory constraints. By evolving Boltzmann equations for left- and right-handed neutrino number densities, we show that about $2/3$ of the left-handed neutrinos are converted into right-handed neutrinos in a short epoch between the Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis and the recombination, and interact with each other efficiently afterwards. The resultant neutrino non-free-streaming is the crucial ingredient to shrink down the comoving sound horizon at drag epoch, which can reconcile the Hubble tension between early and late time measurements.

26 pages, JCAP in press. Only minor refinements, references added. (This update is much delayed due to pandemic situation.)

References in corpus (11)

• Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid Standards Provide a 1% Foundation for the Determination of the Hubble Constant and Stronger Evidence for Physics Beyond LambdaCDM
• The trouble with $H_0$
• The effects of He I 10830 on helium abundance determinations
• Interacting neutrinos in cosmology: exact description and constraints
• Search for heavy neutrinos in $K^{+}\to {\mu }^{+}{\nu }_H$ decays
• Interacting radiation after Planck and its implications for the Hubble Tension
• Neutrino Mass and Baryon Asymmetry from Dirac Seesaw
• Neutrino Self-Interactions and Double Beta Decay
• Consequences of neutrino self interactions for weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis
• A testable hidden-sector model for Dark Matter and neutrino masses
• Probing the Seesaw Mechanism with Cosmological Data

Cited by in corpus (27)

• In the Realm of the Hubble tension $-$ a Review of Solutions
• Challenges for $\Lambda$CDM: An update
• The Hubble tension and a renormalizable model of gauged neutrino self-interactions
• The Hubble Tension as a Hint of Leptogenesis and Neutrino Mass Generation
• Flavor-specific Interaction Favors Strong Neutrino Self-coupling in the Early Universe
• Dirac neutrinos and $N_{\mathrm{eff}}$ II: the freeze-in case
• Light Dirac neutrino portal dark matter with observable $\Delta N_{\mathrm{eff}}$
• Solving the Hubble tension without spoiling Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Reconciling Hubble Constant Discrepancy from Holographic Dark Energy
• Self-Interacting Neutrinos in Light of Large-Scale Structure Data
• The two-mode puzzle: Confronting self-interacting neutrinos with the full shape of the galaxy power spectrum
• Dissimilar Donuts in the Sky? Effects of a Pressure Singularity on the Circular Photon Orbits and Shadow of a Cosmological Black Hole
• Probing neutrino interactions and dark radiation with gravitational waves
• Strong constraints on a simple self-interacting neutrino cosmology
• Flavour specific neutrino self-interaction: $H_0$ tension and IceCube
• Freeze-in Dark Matter via Light Dirac Neutrino Portal
• Resonant neutrino self-interactions and the $H_0$ tension
• Superhorizon perturbations: A possible explanation of the Hubble--Lemaître Tension and the Large Scale Anisotropy of the Universe
• Fresh Look at Neutrino Self-Interactions With the Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest: Constraints from EFT and PRIYA Simulations
• Constraining Holographic Dark Energy and Analyzing Cosmological Tensions
• Self-interacting neutrinos, the Hubble parameter tension, and the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Search for a light $Z^{\prime }$ at LHC in a neutrinophilic $U(1)$ model
• Gravitational memory signal from neutrino self-interactions in supernova
• Joint 21-cm and CMB Forecasts for Constraining Self-Interacting Massive Neutrinos
• Resonant neutrino self-interactions: Insights from the full shape galaxy power spectrum
• Impostor Among $\nu$s: Dark Radiation Masquerading as Self-Interacting Neutrinos
• Simulating neutrino echoes induced by secret neutrino interactions