Phenomenology of Neutrino-Dark Matter Interaction in DSNB and AGN

TL;DR

This paper explores how neutrino interactions with scalar dark matter affect neutrino fluxes from cosmic sources like DSNB and AGN, using current and future neutrino experiments to set constraints on dark matter properties.

Contribution

It models neutrino-dark matter interactions mediated by a fermion, analyzing their effects on neutrino flux attenuation and deriving constraints from multiple neutrino observatories.

Findings

Constraints on DM-neutrino scattering cross section from Super-K, DUNE, Hyper-K.

High-energy neutrino flux modifications due to DM interactions at AGN.

Potential limits on dark matter mass and interaction strength based on IceCube data.

Abstract

We investigate a neutrino-scalar dark matter (DM) $\nu\phi$ interaction encountering distinctive neutrino sources, namely Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The interaction is mediated by a fermionic particle $F$, in which the $\nu\phi$ scattering cross section characterizes different energy dependent with respect to the kinematic regions, and manifests itself through the attenuation of neutrino fluxes from these sources. We model the unscattered neutrino flux from DSNB via core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and star-formation rate (SFR), then incorporate the present Super-Kamionkande and future DUNE/Hyper-Kamiokande experiments to set limits on DM-neutrino interaction. For AGNs, NGC 1068 and TXS 0506+056, where the neutrino carries energy above TeV, we select the kinematic region $m^2_F \gg E_\nu m_\phi \gg m^2_\phi$ such that the $\nu \phi$ scattering cross section features an enhancement at high energy. Furthermore, taking into account the DM spike profile at the center of AGN, we constrain on $m_\phi$ and scattering cross section via computing the neutrino flux at IceCube, where the $\phi\phi^*$ annihilation cross section is implemented to determine the saturation density of the spikes. Notice that the later results heavily rely on the existence of DM spike at the center of AGN, otherwise, our results may alter.