Effect of sterile Neutrinos and Nonstandard Interactions on the Geo-neutrino Flux

TL;DR

This paper investigates how sterile neutrinos and nonstandard interactions influence the Earth's geo-neutrino flux, finding effects are generally small but potentially detectable with precise measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed calculation of sterile neutrino and nonstandard interaction effects on geo-neutrino flux considering matter effects.

Findings

Effects are a few percent or less for reasonable parameters.

Matter effects are significant in flux calculations.

Results suggest potential for future detection of new physics.

Abstract

We calculate the effect of sterile neutrinos and nonstandard neutrino interactions on the flux of active neutrinos from the Earth's crust and mantle taking matter effect into account in both cases. For simple Earth model and using previous emission flux estimates at the source, we find that for reasonable choice of parameters for both the sterile neutrino and nonstandard interaction, the effect on the neutrino flux is a few percent or less.