Reassessing the gallium anomaly using self-consistent electron wave functions

2025/07/17 by Cadeddu, M., Cargioli, N., Carotenuto, G. +3 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.13103

Abstract

The gallium anomaly, a persistent discrepancy exceeding 4σ in the ⁷¹Ga neutrino capture rates from ⁵¹Cr and ³⁷Ar radioactive sources by the GALLEX, SAGE, and recently BEST experiments, has challenged particle physics and nuclear theory for over three decades. We present a new calculation of the neutrino capture cross-section, abandoning the conventional leading-order approximation for electronic wave functions by numerically solving the Dirac-Coulomb equation for both bound and continuum electron states. Finally, we re-evaluate the gallium anomaly, updating its global significance and presenting the most up-to-date status of its interpretation in terms of sterile neutrinos.

Citations

• MicroBooNE
• Neutrino Astrophysics

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