Detecting warm DM in the $MeV/c^2$ range

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential signals of heavy sterile neutrinos in the MeV mass range as dark matter candidates, focusing on their decay signatures and possible detection in experiments.

Contribution

It provides an estimation of the signal rate for heavy neutrino decay into electron-positron pairs, exploring their role as dark matter candidates.

Findings

Estimated decay signal rates for heavy neutrinos in the MeV range.

Identified potential experimental signatures of heavy neutrino decay.

Discussed the implications for dark matter detection strategies.

Abstract

Some tension exists between present experimental data and models which comprise only the three light neutrino mass eigenstates necessary to explain solar and atmospheric oscillation results. Hence the revival of the idea that additional more massive states might enter the active neutrino superpositions produced and observed in charged current reactions. Such 'heavy' neutrinos with masses in the keV or MeV range might also be of interest as dark matter candidates. A state with mass larger than 1022 keV could decay into an $e^+ e^-$ pair and a light mass state, leaving an easily recognizable signature. The aim of this paper is to estimate the possible signal rate.