Neutrino clustering in cold dark matter halos: Implications for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

2002/08/31 by Shwetabh Singh, Chung-Pei Ma, Chung‐Pei Ma · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cold dark matter #Cosmic neutrino background #Cosmology #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark energy #Dark matter #Dark matter halo #Galaxy #Halo #Hot dark matter #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Neutrino detector #Neutrino oscillation #Particle physics #Physics #Sterile neutrino #Universe #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.67.023506

published as Phys.Rev.D67:023506,2003 · 14 pages, 6 figures. Phys. Rev. D, in press. Accepted version. Minor revisions, including updated figures for degenerate neutrino mass models

arxiv created 2002/10/29 · openalex publication_date 2003/01/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We develop a method based on the collisionless Boltzmann equation to calculate the gravitational clustering of relic neutrinos in realistic cosmological models dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) and the cosmological constant. This method can be used to estimate the phase-space distribution of any light particles in CDM halos. We find that neutrinos with masses \ensuremath\gtrsim0.3eV cluster appreciably in dark matter halos above the galactic size. The resulting neutrino overdensity above the cosmic mean neutrino density increases with both the neutrino mass and the halo mass, ranging from \ensuremath∼10 for 0.3 eV neutrinos in \ensuremath∼10¹³M_\ensuremath\bigodot halos to \ensuremath∼1500 for 1.8 eV neutrinos in \ensuremath∼10¹⁵M_\ensuremath\bigodot halos. We examine the implications of neutrino clustering for the Z-burst model of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR), which interprets the observed events at E>4\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10¹⁹eV as decay products of Z bosons from the resonant scattering between relic and high energy neutrinos and antineutrinos. We estimate the UHECR energy spectrum for various neutrino masses towards five of the most massive clusters in the local universe (within 100 Mpc): Virgo, Perseus-Pisces, Hydra, Centaurus, and Coma. The UHECR flux in the Z-burst model is expected to be significantly higher towards these clusters if m_\ensuremathν\ensuremath\gtrsim0.3eV and nearly isotropic otherwise.

Citations

• Determination of Absolute Neutrino Masses from Bursts ofZBosons in Cosmic Rays
• Cosmic-ray neutrino annihilation on relic neutrinos revisited: a mechanism for generating air showers above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff
• On Variational Dynamics in Redshift Space
• Ultra high energy cosmic rays: the theoretical challenge
• Ultra–High‐Energy Neutrino Scattering onto Relic Light Neutrinos in the Galactic Halo as a Possible Source of the Highest Energy Extragalactic Cosmic Rays
• Measurement of the Rate ofνe+d→p+p+e−Interactions Produced byB<mml:mprescripts/>8Solar Neutrinos at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
• Matter effects in upward-going muons and sterile neutrino oscillations
• High energy astrophysical neutrinos: The upper bound is robust
• Constraints on the ultrahigh-energy photon flux using inclined showers from the Haverah Park array
• Extension of the Cosmic-Ray Energy Spectrum beyond the Predicted Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min Cutoff

Cited by

• Prospect for Relic Neutrino Searches
• An efficient implementation of massive neutrinos in non-linear structure formation simulations
• Neutrino masses, dark energy and the gravitational lensing of pre-galactic H i
• Magnetars in the Metagalaxy: An Origin for Ultra–High‐Energy Cosmic Rays in the Nearby Universe
• Neutrinos in cosmology