Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper reviews sterile neutrinos as dark matter candidates, covering their cosmological role, production mechanisms, astrophysical constraints, and potential laboratory detection methods.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of sterile neutrino dark matter, including current limits, production theories, and future experimental search strategies.

Findings

Astrophysical observations constrain sterile neutrino properties.

Multiple production mechanisms for sterile neutrino dark matter are discussed.

Future laboratory experiments could potentially detect keV-scale sterile neutrinos.

Abstract

We review sterile neutrinos as possible Dark Matter candidates. After a short summary on the role of neutrinos in cosmology and particle physics, we give a comprehensive overview of the current status of the research on sterile neutrino Dark Matter. First we discuss the motivation and limits obtained through astrophysical observations. Second, we review different mechanisms of how sterile neutrino Dark Matter could have been produced in the early universe. Finally, we outline a selection of future laboratory searches for keV-scale sterile neutrinos, highlighting their experimental challenges and discovery potential.