Search for Radiative Decays of Cosmic Background Neutrino using Cosmic Infrared Background Energy Spectrum

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Shin-Hong, Kim, Takemasa, Ken-ichi, Takeuchi, Yuji, Matsuura, Shuji
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 20.12.2011
• Subjects: Background radiation; Confidence intervals; Decay; Energy; Energy measurement; Energy spectra; Infrared radiation; Maximum likelihood method; Neutrinos; Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1112.4568

We propose to search for the neutrino radiative decay by fitting a photon energy spectrum of the cosmic infrared background to a sum of the photon energy spectrum from the neutrino radiative decay and a continuum. By comparing the present cosmic infrared background energy spectrum observed by AKARI and Spitzer to the photon energy spectrum expected from neutrino radiative decay with a maximum likelihood method, we obatined a lifetime lower limit of \(3.1 \times 10^{12}\) to \(3.8 \times 10^{12}\) years at 95% confidence level for the third generation neutrino \(\nu_3\) in the \(\nu_3\) mass range between 50 \mmev and 150 \mmev under the present constraints by the neutrino oscillation measurements. In the left-right symmetric model, the minimum lifetime of \(\nu_3\) is predicted to be \(1.5 \times 10^{17}\) years for \(m_3\) of 50 \mmev. We studied the feasibility of the observation of the neutrino radiative decay with a lifetime of \(1.5 \times 10^{17}\) years, by measuring a continuous energy spectrum of the cosmic infrared background.