Photons coming from an opaque obstacle as a manifestation of heavy neutrino decays

TL;DR

This paper explores how heavy Majorana neutrinos produced by atmospheric meson decays can generate detectable photon fluxes after passing through opaque objects, offering a novel way to study physics beyond the standard model.

Contribution

It models the production and decay of sterile Majorana neutrinos in the atmosphere and their resulting photon flux after passing through opaque obstacles, using an effective theory approach.

Findings

Calculated the flux of heavy neutrinos from atmospheric meson decays.

Estimated the photon flux from neutrino decays after passing through an obstacle.

Provided a framework for detecting new physics via neutrino-induced photon signals.

Abstract

Within the framework of physics beyond the standard model we study the possibility that mesons produced in the atmosphere by the cosmic ray flux, decay to heavy Majorana neutrino and these mostly to photons in the low mass region. We study the photon flux produced by sterile Majorana neutrinos ($N$) decaying after passing through a massive and opaque object such as a mountain. In order to model the production of $N$'s in the atmosphere and their decay to photons, we consider the interaction between the Majorana neutrinos and the standard matter as modeled by an effective theory. We then calculate the heavy neutrino flux originated by the decay of mesons in the atmosphere. The surviving photon flux, originated by $N$ decays, is calculated using transport equations that include the effects of Majorana neutrino production and decay.