Probing self-interacting ultra-high-energy neutrinos with cosmic 21-cm signal

Mansi Dhuria, Bishnu Gupta Teli

Published 2024-06-27Version 1

In this study, we investigate the constraints on secret self-interactions of neutrinos by examining the impact of radiative scattering of ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos. These neutrinos are produced from the decay of superheavy dark matter and interact with the cosmic neutrino background (C$\nu$B). We explore how these interactions influence the 21-cm hydrogen signal during the cosmic dark ages and cosmic dawn, periods relatively free from astrophysical uncertainties, providing a clearer signal for studying non-standard neutrino interactions. By analyzing the global brightness temperature measurements, we constrain the scattering cross-section of UHE self-interacting neutrinos, determining the coupling constant $g$ to be within $\sim 10^{-4}$ to $\sim 10^{-3}$ for neutrino energies in the PeV to EeV range. Interestingly, these constraints are more competitive than those from existing astrophysical and collider experiments. As future 21-cm experiments focus on measuring brightness temperature across a wide range of redshifts from the cosmic dark ages to reionization, using the epoch of 21-cm to probe neutrino properties could provide crucial insights into dark matter and neutrino physics.