Speaker
Cristina Benso
(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg)
Description
What if the dark matter content of the universe was made up of sterile neutrinos with a mass of the order of keV?
Currently, constraints from the measured relic abundance of dark matter and from observations in the X-ray band threaten the possibility of finding in terrestrial experiments a signal of such sterile neutrinos produced through oscillation and collisions in the early universe.
We look at two scenarios in which the simple hypothesis of
- a low reheating temperature
- a new contribution to the sterile neutrino decay process
naturally relax these constraints and give new vigor to the hope of getting in the near future a proof of the existence of these elusive Dark Matter candidates in experiments such as KATRIN and ECHo.
Primary authors
Cristina Benso
(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg)
Prof.
Manfred Lindner
(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik)
Dr
Vedran Brdar
(Fermilab and Northwestern U.)
Dr
Werner Rodejohann
(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik)