Abstract
The first detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by IceCube provides new opportunities for tests of neutrino properties. The long baseline through the cosmic neutrino background () is particularly useful for directly testing secret neutrino interactions () that would cause neutrino-neutrino elastic scattering at a larger rate than the usual weak interactions. We show that IceCube can provide competitive sensitivity to compared to other astrophysical and cosmological probes, which are complementary to laboratory tests. We study the spectral distortions caused by with a large s-channel contribution, which can lead to a dip, bump, or cutoff on an initially smooth spectrum. Consequently, may be an exotic solution for features seen in the IceCube energy spectrum. More conservatively, IceCube neutrino data could be used to set model-independent limits on . Our phenomenological estimates provide guidance for more detailed calculations, comparisons to data, and model building.
- Received 23 April 2014
- Publisher error corrected 3 October 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.90.065035
© 2014 American Physical Society
Corrections
3 October 2014