Producing a new Fermion in Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering: from Neutrino Mass to Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores the production of a new MeV-scale fermion in neutrino-nucleus scattering, analyzing its implications for neutrino mass, dark matter, and experimental detection using COHERENT and CONUS data.

Contribution

It introduces a model for a new fermion coupling to neutrinos and quarks, providing limits on its properties and exploring its role in neutrino mass and dark matter.

Findings

Limits on fermion mass and coupling from COHERENT data

Sensitivity analysis for the CONUS experiment

Potential connection of the fermion to neutrino mass and dark matter

Abstract

We consider the production of a new MeV-scale fermion in coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. The effect on the measurable nucleon recoil spectrum is calculated. Assuming that the new fermion couples to neutrinos and quarks via a singlet scalar, we set limits on its mass and coupling using COHERENT data and also determine the sensitivity of the CONUS experiment. We investigate the possible connection of the new fermion to neutrino mass generation. The possibility of the new fermion being the dark matter particle is also studied.