1–5 Jul 2024
Bologna, Italy
Europe/Rome timezone

Hidden in the background: BBN photodisintegration limits on relics decaying into neutrinos.

1 Jul 2024, 15:35
5m
Aula Giorgio Prodi - San Giovanni in Monte, University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy)

Aula Giorgio Prodi - San Giovanni in Monte, University of Bologna

Bologna, Italy

Piazza S. Giovanni in Monte, 2, 40124 Bologna BO

Speaker

Sara Bianco (DESY Hamburg)

Description

Constraints on dark sector particles decaying into neutrinos typically focus on their impact on the effective number of relativistic species, $N_{eff}$, in the early Universe. However, for heavy relics with longer lifetimes, constraints mainly arise from the photo-disintegration of primordial abundances. The high-energy neutrinos injected by the decay can interact with both the thermal neutrinos and other high-energy neutrinos. Among these interactions, annihilations into electromagnetic particles will induce an electromagnetic cascade that affects the abundances of the already formed light elements via photo-disintegration. In this work, we present constraints on these dark sector particles. Specifically, we implement a Monte Carlo code to simulate the electromagnetic cascade, instead of solving the full set of Boltzmann equations. We find improved bounds on the particle's lifetime, abundance, and mass.

Title of the Poster/Talk BBN constraints on neutrino injection into the early Universe

Primary authors

Jonas Frerick (DESY-T) Dr Kai Schmidt-Hoberg (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) Dr Marco Hufnagel (Service de Physique Th ́eorique, Universit ́e Libre de Bruxelles) Paul Frederik Depta (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik) Sara Bianco (DESY Hamburg) Dr Thomas Hambye (Service de Physique Th ́eorique, Universit ́e Libre de Bruxelles)

Presentation materials