Attenuation of the ultra-high-energy neutrino flux by dark matter scatterings

TL;DR

This paper examines how neutrino-dark matter interactions affect ultra-high-energy neutrino signals, providing new limits on scattering cross sections using recent observational data and detector anisotropy analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive study of neutrino-dark matter scatterings in intergalactic and galactic environments, deriving novel constraints from observational data.

Findings

Limits on DM-neutrino scattering cross section are established.

Neutrino flux and anisotropy are significantly affected by DM interactions.

Recent UHE neutrino event data used to constrain DM-neutrino interactions.

Abstract

A flux of ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos, produced by astrophysical sources at cosmological distances, is anticipated to exist and reach Earth. In this paper, we investigate the impact on the total flux, energy spectrum, and arrival directions of UHE neutrinos of neutrino-dark matter (DM) scatterings. We study scatterings both in the intergalactic medium and in the Milky Way. We emphasize the complementarity among neutrino detectors at different latitudes, that can probe anisotropies induced by neutrinos scattering with the Milky Way DM halo. We also discuss that, with mild astrophysical assumptions, limits on the DM-$\nu$ scattering cross section can be placed even if the neutrino sources are unknown. Finally, we explore all this phenomenology with the recent UHE neutrino event KM3230213A, and place the corresponding limits on the DM-$\nu$ scattering cross section.