Possibility of Detecting Heavy Neutral Fermions in the Galaxy

1986
8 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 33 (1986) 2071-2078

Citations per year

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Abstract: (APS)
It is shown that heavy neutral fermions in the galactic halo could produce numerous detectable low-energy events in a ‘‘thermal’’ neutrino detector if the heavy-fermionndashnucleon vector coupling is comparable in strength to the vector weak interaction. The conditions under which a detectable event rate could arise for fermions with purely axial-vector couplings are also discussed. In a silicon detector heavy-fermion events would be concentrated at low energies, and could be distinguished from solar or supernova neutrino events, which are expected to have a flatter energy spectrum. A measurement of the energy spectrum of heavy-fermion events could lead to a determination of the fermion mass, subject to astrophysical uncertainties concerning the velocity distribution of halo particles.
  • FERMION: HEAVY
  • FERMION: NEUTRAL PARTICLE
  • ASTROPHYSICS
  • COUPLING: (FERMION NUCLEON)
  • (FERMION NUCLEON): COUPLING
  • COUPLING: VECTOR
  • VECTOR: COUPLING
  • COUPLING: AXIAL-VECTOR
  • AXIAL-VECTOR: COUPLING
  • COSMIC RADIATION: ENERGY SPECTRUM