2015/07/31 by Anthony DiFranzo, Dan Hooper
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Boson #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Gauge (firearms) #Gauge boson #Gauge theory #Geography #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Scale (ratio) #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.92.095007
published as Phys. Rev. D 92, 095007 (2015) · 10 pages, 6 figures
openalex publication_date 2015/11/05 · arxiv created 2015/11/25 · arxiv updated 2015/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Light gauge bosons can lead to resonant interactions between high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and the cosmic neutrino background. We study this possibility in detail, considering the ability of IceCube to probe such scenarios. We find the most dramatic effects in models with a very light Z^\ensuremath' (m_Z^\ensuremath'\ensuremath\lesssim10 MeV), which can induce a significant absorption feature at E_\ensuremathν\ensuremath∼5--10 TeV\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi(m_Z^\ensuremath'/MeV)2. In the case of the inverted hierarchy and a small sum of neutrino masses, such a light Z^\ensuremath' can result in a broad and deep spectral feature at \ensuremath∼0.1--10 PeV\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi(m_Z^\ensuremath'/MeV)2. Current IceCube data already excludes this case for a Z^\ensuremath' lighter than a few MeV and couplings greater than g\ensuremath∼10^\ensuremath-4. We emphasize that the ratio of neutrino flavors observed by IceCube can be used to further increase their sensitivity to Z^\ensuremath' models and to other exotic physics scenarios.