The Neutrino Magnetic Moment Portal: Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Direct Detection

Abstract

We revisit the physics of neutrino magnetic moments, focusing in particular on the case where the right-handed, or sterile, neutrinos are heavier (up to several MeV) than the left-handed Standard Model neutrinos. The discussion is centered around the idea of detecting an upscattering event mediated by a transition magnetic moment in a neutrino or dark matter experiment. Considering neutrinos from all known sources, as well as including all available data from XENON1T and Borexino, we derive the strongest up-to-date exclusion limits on the active-to-sterile neutrino transition magnetic moment. We then study complementary constraints from astrophysics and cosmology, performing, in particular, a thorough analysis of BBN. We find that these data sets scrutinize most of the relevant parameter space. Explaining the XENON1T excess with transition magnetic moments is marginally possible if conservative assumptions are adopted regarding the supernova 1987A and CMB constraints. Finally, we discuss model-building challenges that arise in scenarios that feature large magnetic moments while keeping neutrino masses well below 1 eV. We present a successful ultraviolet-complete model of this type based on TeV-scale leptoquarks, establishing links with muon magnetic moment, B physics anomalies, and collider searches at the LHC.

18 pages, 4 figures, matches version published in JCAP; in v3 updated terrestrial constraints/sensitivities (Fig. 2); our calculations unchanged

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• Spin-Flavor Oscillations of Relic Neutrinos in Primordial Magnetic Field
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• Disentangle Neutrino Electromagnetic Properties with Atomic Radiative Pair Emission
• Constraining the SMEFT Extended with Sterile Neutrinos at FCC-ee
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• Magnetar-powered Neutrinos and Magnetic Moment Signatures at IceCube
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• Constraining neutrino electromagnetic properties with recent low-energy electron recoil data at dark matter direct detection experiments
• From oversimplified to overlooked: the case for exploring Rich Dark Sectors
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