KM3-230213A and IceCube Neutrino Events from Metastable Dark Matter of Primordial Black Hole Origin

Abstract

We investigate a scenario in which the recently observed ultra-high-energy neutrino event KM3-230213A, with a median energy of approximately 220 PeV, as well as the high-energy neutrinos detected by IceCube Observatory, originate from the decay of superheavy dark matter (DM) particles produced through primordial black hole (PBH) evaporation. To establish this connection, we derive constraints on the PBH abundance parameter $\beta$ as a function of the initial PBH mass $M_{\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{H}}_0}$ and DM mass $m_{\mathrm{DM}}$, by considering the bound from the observed relic DM abundance. Using these constraints, we compute the resulting neutrino flux and show that DM masses in the PeV-EeV range can yield neutrinos of comparable energies, capable of accounting for both the KM3-230213A and IceCube events while remaining consistent with the relic abundance constraint. Interestingly, the scenario remains viable over a broad region of parameter space while satisfying existing cosmological and astrophysical bounds. Overall, our results demonstrate that PBH evaporation followed by DM decay provides a consistent and natural explanation for the observed ultra-high-energy neutrino events in the absence of accompanying multimessenger signatures.

11 pages, 5 figures, Journal version (Published in PRD)

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