Bounds on mini-charged neutrinos in the minimal standard model

K. S. Babu, R. R. Volkas

Published 1992-08-31Version 1

In the minimal Standard Model (MSM) with three generations of quarks and leptons, neutrinos can have tiny charges consistent with electromagnetic gauge invariance. There are three types of non-standard electric charge, given by $Q_{st} + \epsilon(L_i - L_j)$, where $i, j = e, \mu, \tau$ $(i \neq j)$, $Q_{st}$ is standard electric charge, $L_i$ is a family-lepton--number, and $\epsilon$ is an arbitrary parameter which is put equal to zero in the usual incarnation of the MSM. These three non-standard electric charges are of considerable theoretical interest because they are compatible with the MSM Lagrangian and $SU(3)_c \otimes SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$ gauge anomaly cancellation. The two most conspicuous implications of such non-standard electric charges are the presence of two generations of massless charged neutrinos and a breakdown in electromagnetic universality for $e$, $\mu$ and $\tau$. We use results from (i) charge conservation in $\beta$-decay, (ii) physical consequences of charged atoms in various contexts, (iii) the anomalous magnetic moments of charged leptons, (iv) neutrino-electron scattering, (v) energy loss in red giant and white dwarf stars, and (vi) limits on a cosmologically induced thermal photon mass, to place bounds on $\epsilon$. While the constraints derived for $\epsilon$ 10^{-21}$), the $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ case allows $\epsilon$ to be as large as $10^{-14}$.