Probing dark sector particles coupling to neutrinos with double beta decay
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Motivated by the observation of nonzero neutrino masses and the potential for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model, numerous experiments are actively searching for neutrinoless double beta ( 0 ν β β ) decay. In all of these searches, a substantial amount of data on two-neutrino double beta ( 2 ν β β ) decay has been collected. In this work, we explore the sensitivity of current and future double beta decay experiments to a massive Majoron-like scalar particle coupled to neutrinos and potentially dark sector fermions, and compare their reach to the relevant cosmological constraints. On- and off-shell production of such a scalar leads to characteristic distortions in the emitted electron spectrum. We investigate how these distortions manifest in current and future double beta decay experiments, deriving the sensitivity to such a scenario. We project the reach of future experiments which can probe scalar-neutrino couplings of | a ν | ≈ 2 × 10 − 6 for sub-MeV scalar particles and remain sensitive to off-shell production above the Q -value of double beta isotopes.
DOI: 10.1103/lxh2-wsrz
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G1422035950, G1610934229, G1790338575, G2262748287, G3176647223, G3220251042, G3480869486, G4014979219, G425668148, G4511208782, G464105488, G4861624602, G5222023348, G5635532810, G5943895058, G603324873, G7048004026, G7084143925, G7101642908, G7217908870, G7863371703, G8145856165, G8497050386, G8715457421
OpenAlex ID: W4416659235