Connecting cosmologically decaying dark matter to neutrino physics

Abstract

Dark matter decays into invisible particles can leave an imprint in large-scale structure surveys due to a characteristic redshift-dependent suppression of the power spectrum. We present a model with two quasi-degenerate singlet fermions, $χ_1$ and $χ_2$, in which the heavier state decays as $χ_2 \to \bar χ_1 νν$ on cosmological time-scales, and that also accommodates non-zero neutrino masses. Remarkably, for parameters that yield the correct dark matter abundance via freeze-in and reproduce the observed neutrino masses, dark matter decay can produce detectable signals in forthcoming large-scale structure surveys, a diffuse anti-neutrino flux accessible to JUNO, and a gamma-ray line within the energy range probed by COSI. Both the cosmological lifetime of $χ_2$ as well as the small (radiatively induced) mass splitting among $χ_{1,2}$ are a natural consequence of the mechanism of neutrino mass generation within this model. This highlights the potential role of large-scale structure surveys in probing some classes of neutrino mass models.

15+10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables