2013/10/31 by Basudeb Dasgupta, Joachim Kopp
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Big Bang nucleosynthesis #Cold dark matter #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmic neutrino background #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark energy #Dark matter #Galaxy #Hot dark matter #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Neutrino oscillation #Nucleosynthesis #Particle physics #Physics #Solar neutrino #Stars #Sterile neutrino #Structure formation #Universe #Warm dark matter #astro-ph.CO #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.031803
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 031803 (2014) · 7 pages, 4 figures. v3: minor corrections in the discussion of small scale structure led to the realization that all 3 problems can be solved simultaneously. Matches PRL version titled "Cosmologically Safe eV-Scale Sterile Neutrinos and Improved Dark Matter Structure". v4: references added, calculations in appendix A rewritten in Feynman gauge. ArXiv version includes 2 additional figures
openalex publication_date 2014/01/22 · arxiv created 2014/06/13 · arxiv updated 2014/06/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We show that sterile neutrinos with masses ≳1 eV, as motivated by several short baseline oscillation anomalies, can be consistent with cosmological constraints if they are charged under a hidden sector force mediated by a light boson. In this case, sterile neutrinos experience a large thermal potential that suppresses mixing between active and sterile neutrinos in the early Universe, even if vacuum mixing angles are large. Thus, the abundance of sterile neutrinos in the Universe remains very small, and their impact on big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, and large-scale structure formation is negligible. It is conceivable that the new gauge force also couples to dark matter, possibly ameliorating some of the small-scale structure problems associated with cold dark matter.