The role of sterile neutrinos in cosmology and astrophysics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the Neutrino Minimal Standard Model (nuMSM), an extension of the Standard Model with three sterile neutrinos, explaining phenomena like dark matter, baryon asymmetry, and neutrino oscillations, and discusses experimental verification.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the nuMSM, highlighting its ability to explain multiple cosmological and particle physics phenomena within a unified framework.

Findings

The nuMSM can account for dark matter as warm or cold.

It explains the baryon asymmetry of the Universe.

It offers a particle physics explanation for neutrino oscillations.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive overview of an extension of the Standard Model that contains three right-handed (sterile) neutrinos with masses below the electroweak scale [the Neutrino Minimal Standard Model, (nuMSM)]. We consider the history of the Universe from the inflationary era through today and demonstrate that most of the observed phenomena beyond the Standard Model can be explained within the framework of this model. We review the mechanism of baryon asymmetry of the Universe in the nuMSM and discuss a dark matter candidate that can be warm or cold and satisfies all existing constraints. From the viewpoint of particle physics the model provides an explanation for neutrino flavor oscillations. Verification of the nuMSM is possible with existing experimental techniques.