Possible explanation of not observing ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos

Author:

Jakub Rembielinski, Jacek Ciborowski

Keyword:

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph), High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)

journal:

date:

2023-10-03 16:00:00

Abstract

Assuming that neutrinos are spacelike (tachyonic) fermions, we calculate width for the kinematically allowed, lepton number conserving, three-body decay $\nu_{\alpha}\rightarrow \nu_{\alpha} \; \nu_{\beta} \bar{\nu}_{\beta}$ in the Standard Model. Decays of tachyonic neutrinos over cosmological distances can lead to a reduction of the neutrino flux in the high-energy end of the spectrum. We estimate upper limits on the spacelike neutrino mass based on the PeV-energy cosmological neutrino events observed in the IceCube experiment. These limits are close to those deduced from the measurements of $m_{\nu}^2$ in the tritium-decay experiment KATRIN.

PDF: Possible explanation of not observing ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos.pdf