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1. Hunting nonstandard neutrino interactions and leptoquarks in dark matter experiments

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/11/068  

   Schwemberger, Thomas; Takhistov, Volodymyr; Yu, Tien-Tien (November 2024, Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)

   Abstract Next generation direct dark matter (DM) detection experiments will have unprecedented capabilities to explore coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) complementary to dedicated neutrino experiments. We demonstrate that future DM experiments can effectively probe nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) mediated by scalar fields in the scattering of solar and atmospheric neutrinos. We set first limits onS¹leptoquark models that result in sizableμ-dandτ-dsector neutrino NSI CEνNS contributions using LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) data. As we show, near future DM experiments reaching ∼𝒪(100) ton-year exposure, such as argon-based ARGO and xenon-based DARWIN, can probe parameter space of leptoquarks beyond the reach of current and planned collider facilities. We also analyze for the first time prospects for testing NSI in lead-based detectors. We discuss the ability of leptoquarks in the parameter space of interest to also explain the neutrino masses and (g-2)_μobservations. 

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2. Neutrino constraints on inelastic dark matter captured in the Sun

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/01/030  

   Chauhan, Bhavesh; Reno, Mary Hall; Rott, Carsten; Sarcevic, Ina (January 2024, Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)

   Abstract The flux of neutrinos from annihilation of gravitationally captured dark matter in the Sun has significant constraints from direct-detection experiments. However, these constraints are relaxed for inelastic dark matter as inelastic dark matter interactions generate less energetic nuclear recoils compared to elastic dark matter interactions. In this paper, we explore the possibility for large volume underground neutrino experiments to detect the neutrino flux from captured inelastic dark matter in the Sun. The neutrino spectrum has two components: a mono-energetic “spike” from pion and kaon decays at rest and a broad-spectrum “shoulder” from prompt primary meson decays. We focus on detecting the shoulder neutrinos from annihilation of hadrophilic inelastic dark matter with masses in the range 4–100 GeV and the mass splittings in up to 300 keV. We determine the event selection criterion for DUNE to identify GeV-scale muon neutrinos and anti-neutrinos originating from hadrophilic dark matter annihilation in the Sun, and forecast the sensitivity from contained events. We also map the current bounds from Super-Kamiokande and IceCube on elastic dark matter, as well as the projected limits from Hyper-Kamiokande, to the parameter space of inelastic dark matter. We find that there is a region of parameter space that these neutrino experiments are more sensitive to than the direct-detection experiments. For dark matter annihilation to heavy-quarks, the projected sensitivity of DUNE is weaker than current (future) Super (Hyper) Kamiokande experiments. However, for the light-quark channel, only the spike is observable and DUNE will be the most sensitive experiment. 

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3. Probing self-interacting sterile neutrino dark matter with the diffuse supernova neutrino background

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.123011  

   Balantekin, A. Baha; Fuller, George M.; Ray, Anupam; Suliga, Anna M. (December 2023, Physical Review D)

   The neutrinos in the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) travel over cosmological distances and this provides them with an excellent opportunity to interact with dark relics. We show that a cosmologically significant relic population of keV-mass sterile neutrinos with strong self-interactions could imprint their presence in the DSNB. The signatures of the self-interactions would be “dips” in the otherwise smooth DSNB spectrum. Upcoming large-scale neutrino detectors, for example Hyper-Kamiokande, have a good chance of detecting the DSNB and these dips. If no dips are detected, this method serves as an independent constraint on the sterile neutrino self-interaction strength and mixing with active neutrinos. We show that relic sterile neutrino parameters that evade x-ray and structure bounds may nevertheless be testable by future detectors like TRISTAN, but may also produce dips in the DSNB which could be detectable. Such a detection would suggest the existence of a cosmologically significant, strongly self-interacting sterile neutrino background, likely embedded in a richer dark sector. 

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4. JUNO sensitivity to the annihilation of MeV dark matter in the galactic halo

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2023/09/001  

   Abusleme, Angel; Adam, Thomas; Ahmad, Shakeel; Ahmed, Rizwan; Aiello, Sebastiano; Akram, Muhammad; Aleem, Abid; Alexandros, Tsagkarakis; An, Fengpeng; An, Qi; et al (September 2023, Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)

   Abstract We discuss JUNO sensitivity to the annihilation of MeV dark matter in the galactic halo via detecting inverse beta decay reactions of electron anti-neutrinos resulting from the annihilation. We study possible backgrounds to the signature, including the reactor neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, charged- and neutral-current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos, backgrounds from muon-induced fast neutrons and cosmogenic isotopes. A fiducial volume cut, as well as the pulse shape discrimination and the muon veto are applied to suppress the above backgrounds. It is shown that JUNO sensitivity to the thermally averaged dark matter annihilation rate in 10 years of exposure would be significantly better than the present-day best limit set by Super-Kamiokande and would be comparable to that expected by Hyper-Kamiokande. 

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5. Probing superheavy dark matter through lunar radio observations of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos and the impacts of neutrino cascades

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.083007  

   Das, Saikat; Carpio, Jose Alonso; Murase, Kohta (April 2025, Physical Review D)

   Ultrahigh-energy neutrinos ( $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$s) can be used as a valuable probe of superheavy dark matter above $\sim {10}^9\mathrm{GeV}$, the latter being difficult to probe with collider and direct detection experiments due to the feebly interacting nature. Searching for radio emissions originating from the interaction of $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$s with the lunar regolith enables us to explore energies beyond ${10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$, which astrophysical accelerators cannot achieve. Taking into account the interaction of $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$s with the cosmic neutrino background and resulting standard neutrino cascades to calculate the neutrino flux on Earth, for the first time, we investigate sensitivities of such lunar radio observations to very heavy dark matter. We also examine the impacts of cosmogenic neutrinos that have the astrophysical origin. We show that the proposed ultralong wavelength lunar radio telescope, as well as the existing low-frequency array, can provide the most stringent constraints on decaying or annihilating superheavy dark matter with masses at $\gtrsim {10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$. The limits are complementary to or even stronger than those from other $\mathrm{UHE}\nu$detectors, such as the IceCube-Gen2 radio array and the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection. 

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