Toward Powerful Probes of Neutrino Self-Interactions in Supernovae.

Neutrinos remain mysterious. As an example, enhanced self-interactions (νSI), which would have broad implications, are allowed. At the high neutrino densities within core-collapse supernovae, νSI should be important, but robust observables have been lacking. We show that νSI make neutrinos form a tightly coupled fluid that expands under relativistic hydrodynamics. The outflow becomes either a burst or a steady-state wind; which occurs here is uncertain. Though the diffusive environment where neutrinos are produced may make a wind more likely, further work is needed to determine when each case is realized. In the burst-outflow case, νSI increase the duration of the neutrino signal, and even a simple analysis of SN 1987A data has powerful sensitivity. For the wind-outflow case, we outline several promising ideas that may lead to new observables. Combined, these results are important steps toward solving the 35-year-old puzzle of how νSI affect supernovae.

New Freezeout Mechanism for Strongly Interacting Dark Matter.

We present a new mechanism for thermally produced dark matter, based on a semi-annihilation-like process, χ+χ+SM→χ+SM, with intriguing consequences for the properties of dark matter. First, its mass is low, ≲1 GeV (but ≳5 keV to avoid structure-formation constraints). Second, it is strongly interacting, leading to kinetic equilibrium between the dark and visible sectors, avoiding the structure-formation problems of χ+χ+χ→χ+χ models. Third, in the 3→2 process, one dark matter particle is consumed, giving the standard-model particle a monoenergetic recoil. We show that this new scenario is presently allowed, which is surprising (perhaps a "minor miracle"). However, it can be systematically tested by novel analyses in present and near-term experiments. In particular, the Co-SIMP model for thermal-relic dark matter can explain the XENON1T excess.

DUNE as the Next-Generation Solar Neutrino Experiment.

We show that the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), with significant but feasible new efforts, has the potential to deliver world-leading results in solar neutrinos. With a 100 kton-yr exposure, DUNE could detect ≳10^{5} signal events above 5 MeV electron energy. Separate precision measurements of neutrino-mixing parameters and the ^{8}B flux could be made using two detection channels (ν_{e}+^{40}Ar and ν_{e,µ,τ}+e^{-}) and the day-night effect (>10σ). New particle physics may be revealed through the comparison of solar neutrinos (with matter effects) and reactor neutrinos (without), which is discrepant by ∼2σ (and could become 5.6σ). New astrophysics may be revealed through the most precise measurement of the ^{8}B flux (to 2.5%) and the first detection of the hep flux (to 11%). DUNE is required: No other experiment, even proposed, has been shown capable of fully realizing these discovery opportunities.

Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos.

The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos is a rich observable. However, present analyses cannot effectively distinguish particle showers induced by ν_{e} vs ν_{τ}. We show that this can be accomplished by measuring the intensities of the delayed, collective light emission from muon decays and neutron captures, which are, on average, greater for ν_{τ} than for ν_{e}. This new technique would significantly improve tests of the nature of astrophysical sources and of neutrino properties. We discuss the promising prospects for implementing it in IceCube and other detectors.

Evidence for a New Component of High-Energy Solar Gamma-Ray Production.

The observed multi-GeV γ-ray emission from the solar disk-sourced by hadronic cosmic rays interacting with gas and affected by complex magnetic fields-is not understood. Utilizing an improved analysis of the Fermi-LAT data that includes the first resolved imaging of the disk, we find strong evidence that this emission is produced by two separate mechanisms. Between 2010 and 2017 (the rise to and fall from solar maximum), the γ-ray emission was dominated by a polar component. Between 2008 and 2009 (solar minimum) this component remained present, but the total emission was instead dominated by a new equatorial component with a brighter flux and harder spectrum. Most strikingly, although six γ rays above 100 GeV were observed during the 1.4 yr of solar minimum, none were observed during the next 7.8 yr. These features, along with a 30-50 GeV spectral dip which will be discussed in a companion paper, were not anticipated by theory. To understand the underlying physics, Fermi-LAT and HAWC observations of the imminent cycle 25 solar minimum are crucial.

Dark Matter Velocity Spectroscopy.

Dark matter decays or annihilations that produce linelike spectra may be smoking-gun signals. However, even such distinctive signatures can be mimicked by astrophysical or instrumental causes. We show that velocity spectroscopy-the measurement of energy shifts induced by relative motion of source and observer-can separate these three causes with minimal theoretical uncertainties. The principal obstacle has been energy resolution, but upcoming experiments will have the precision needed. As an example, we show that the imminent Astro-H mission can use Milky Way observations to separate possible causes of the 3.5-keV line. We discuss other applications.

Theoretically Palatable Flavor Combinations of Astrophysical Neutrinos.

The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos can reveal the physics governing their production, propagation, and interaction. The IceCube Collaboration has published the first experimental determination of the ratio of the flux in each flavor to the total. We present, as a theoretical counterpart, new results for the allowed ranges of flavor ratios at Earth for arbitrary flavor ratios in the sources. Our results will allow IceCube to more quickly identify when their data imply standard physics, a general class of new physics with arbitrary (incoherent) combinations of mass eigenstates, or new physics that goes beyond that, e.g., with terms that dominate the Hamiltonian at high energy.

Secondary photons and neutrinos from cosmic rays produced by distant blazars.

Secondary photons and neutrinos produced in the interactions of cosmic ray protons emitted by distant active galactic nuclei (AGN) with the photon background along the line of sight can reveal a wealth of new information about the intergalactic magnetic fields, extragalactic background light, and the acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays. The secondary photons may have already been observed by gamma-ray telescopes. We show that the secondary neutrinos improve the prospects of discovering distant blazars by IceCube, and we discuss the ramifications for the cosmic backgrounds, magnetic fields, and AGN models.

Strong upper limits on sterile neutrino warm dark matter.

Sterile neutrinos are attractive dark matter candidates. Their parameter space of mass and mixing angle has not yet been fully tested despite intensive efforts that exploit their gravitational clustering properties and radiative decays. We use the limits on gamma-ray line emission from the Galactic center region obtained with the SPI spectrometer on the INTEGRAL satellite to set new constraints, which improve on the earlier bounds on mixing by more than 2 orders of magnitude, and thus strongly restrict a wide and interesting range of models.

TeV gamma rays from photodisintegration and daughter deexcitation of cosmic-ray nuclei.

It is commonly assumed that high-energy gamma rays are made via either purely electromagnetic processes or the hadronic process of pion production, followed by decay. We investigate astrophysical contexts where a third process (A*) would dominate: namely, the photodisintegration of highly boosted nuclei followed by daughter deexcitation. Starburst regions such as Cygnus OB2 appear to be promising sites for TeV gamma-ray emission via this mechanism. A unique feature of the A* process is a sharp flattening of the energy spectrum below approximately 10 TeV/(T/eV) for gamma-ray emission from a thermal region of temperature T. The A* mechanism described herein offers an important contribution to gamma-ray astronomy in the era of intense observational activity.

Upper bound on the dark matter total annihilation cross section.

We consider dark matter annihilation into standard model particles and show that the least detectable final states, namely, neutrinos, define an upper bound on the total cross section. Calculating the cosmic diffuse neutrino signal, and comparing it to the measured terrestrial atmospheric neutrino background, we derive a strong and general bound. This can be evaded if the annihilation products are dominantly new and truly invisible particles. Our bound is much stronger than the unitarity bound at the most interesting masses, shows that dark matter halos cannot be significantly modified by annihilations, and can be improved by a factor of 10-100 with existing neutrino experiments.

Stringent constraint on galactic positron production.

The intense 0.511 MeV gamma-ray line emission from the Galactic Center observed by INTEGRAL requires a large annihilation rate of nonrelativistic positrons. If these positrons are injected at even mildly relativistic energies, higher-energy gamma rays will also be produced. We calculate the gamma-ray spectrum due to inflight annihilation and compare it with the observed diffuse Galactic gamma-ray data. Even with a simplified but conservative treatment, we find that the positron injection energies must be less than or similar to 3 MeV, which strongly constrains models for Galactic positron production.

Detection of neutrinos from supernovae in nearby galaxies.

While existing detectors would see a burst of many neutrinos from a Milky Way supernova, the supernova rate is only a few per century. As an alternative, we propose the detection of approximately 1 neutrino per supernova from galaxies within 10 Mpc, in which there were at least 9 core-collapse supernovae since 2002. With a future 1 Mton scale detector, this could be a faster method for measuring the supernova neutrino spectrum, which is essential for calibrating numerical models and predicting the redshifted diffuse spectrum from distant supernovae. It would also allow a > or approximately 10(4) times more precise trigger time than optical data alone for high-energy neutrinos and gravitational waves.

Revealing the supernova-gamma-ray burst connection with TeV neutrinos.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are rare, powerful explosions displaying highly relativistic jets. It has been suggested that a significant fraction of the much more frequent core-collapse supernovae are accompanied by comparably energetic but mildly relativistic jets, which would indicate an underlying supernova-GRB connection. We calculate the neutrino spectra from the decays of pions and kaons produced in jets in supernovae, and show that the kaon contribution is dominant and provides a sharp break near 20 TeV, which is a sensitive probe of the conditions inside the jet. For a supernova at 10 Mpc, 30 events above 100 GeV are expected in a 10 s burst in the IceCube detector.

Gamma-ray Constraint on galactic positron production by MeV dark matter.

The Galactic positrons, as observed by their annihilation gamma-ray line at 0.511 MeV, are difficult to account for with astrophysical sources. It has been proposed that they are produced instead by dark matter annihilation or decay in the inner Galactic halo. To avoid other constraints, these processes are required to occur "invisibly," such that the eventual positron annihilation is the only detectable signal. However, electromagnetic radiative corrections to these processes inevitably produce real gamma rays ("internal bremsstrahlung"); this emission violates COMPTEL and EGRET constraints unless the dark matter mass is less than about 20 MeV.

Antineutrino spectroscopy with large water Cerenkov detectors.

We propose modifying large water C erenkov detectors by the addition of 0.2% gadolinium trichloride, which is highly soluble, newly inexpensive, and transparent in solution. Since Gd has an enormous cross section for radiative neutron capture, with summation operatorE(gamma)=8 MeV, this would make neutrons visible for the first time in such detectors, allowing antineutrino tagging by the coincidence detection reaction nu (e)+p-->e(+)+n (similarly for nu (mu)). Taking Super-Kamiokande as a working example, dramatic consequences for reactor neutrino measurements, first observation of the diffuse supernova neutrino background, galactic supernova detection, and other topics are discussed.

Neutrinoless universe.

We consider the consequences for the relic neutrino abundance if extra neutrino interactions are allowed, e.g., the coupling of neutrinos to a light (compared to m(nu)) boson. For a wide range of couplings not excluded by other considerations, the relic neutrinos would annihilate to bosons at late times and thus make a negligible contribution to the matter density today. This mechanism evades the neutrino mass limits arising from large scale structure.

Pseudo-dirac neutrinos: a challenge for neutrino telescopes.

Neutrinos may be pseudo-Dirac states, such that each generation is actually composed of two maximally mixed Majorana neutrinos separated by a tiny mass difference. The usual active neutrino oscillation phenomenology would be unaltered if the pseudo-Dirac splittings are deltam(2) less, similar 10(-12) eV(2); in addition, neutrinoless double beta decay would be highly suppressed. However, it may be possible to distinguish pseudo-Dirac from Dirac neutrinos using high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. By measuring flavor ratios as a function of L/E, mass-squared differences down to deltam(2) approximately 10(-18) eV(2) can be reached. We comment on the possibility of probing cosmological parameters with neutrinos.

Decay of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.

Existing limits on the nonradiative decay of one neutrino to another plus a massless particle (e.g., a singlet Majoron) are very weak. The best limits on the lifetime to mass ratio come from solar neutrino observations and are tau/m greater, similar 10(-4) s/eV for the relevant mass eigenstate(s). For lifetimes even several orders of magnitude longer, high-energy neutrinos from distant astrophysical sources would decay. This would strongly alter the flavor ratios from the phi(nu(e)):phi(nu(mu)):phi(nu(tau))=1:1:1 expected from oscillations alone and should be readily visible in the near future in detectors such as IceCube.