arXiv subjects

Lua F. T. Airoldi

Publications and source records attributed to Lua F. T. Airoldi.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Open system approach to neutrinos propagating in an ultralight scalar background

We examine decoherence in neutrino oscillations induced by an ultralight scalar field coupled to neutrinos. The scalar induces time- and position-dependent shifts in the neutrino mass matrix. Neutrinos sample different field configurations throughout an experimental data-taking period, which leads to damping effects in the oscillation pattern in the form of decoherence. By recasting the neutrino-scalar dynamics within the open quantum systems framework, we establish a mapping between a complete model and phenomenological decoherence approaches. We find that the parameter driving decoherence scales as $L^2/E^2$, where $L$ is the baseline and $E$ is the neutrino energy, as opposed to $L/E$ typically assumed in phenomenological studies of open system approaches to neutrino oscillations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Chasing Serendipity: Tackling Transient Sources with Neutrino Telescopes

The discovery of ultra-high-energy neutrinos by IceCube marked the beginning of neutrino astronomy. Yet, the origin and production mechanisms of these neutrinos remain an open question. With the observation of several neutrino events with energies about the PeV, transient sources - astrophysical objects that emit particles in brief, localized bursts - have emerged as promising candidates. In this work, we revisit the identification of such sources in IceCube and future neutrino telescopes, focusing on how both the timing and sky localization of the source affect the detection sensitivity. We present a framework to account for the source's right ascension in determining the effective area of detectors not located at the poles, such as KM3NeT. As a case study, we investigate evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs) as transient neutrino sources, showing that the detection prospects and localization accuracy are strongly influenced by the PBH's position in the sky. Our results emphasize the complementarity between neutrino and gamma-ray observatories and showcase the potential of a global network of neutrino detectors to identify and localize transient events that might be missed by traditional photon-based instruments.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Could a Primordial Black Hole Explosion Explain the extremely high-energy KM3NeT neutrino Event?

A black hole is expected to end its lifetime in a cataclysmic runaway burst of Hawking radiation, emitting all Standard Model particles with ultra-high energies. Thus, the explosion of a nearby primordial black hole (PBH) has been proposed as a possible explanation for the $\sim 220$~PeV neutrino-like event recently reported by the KM3NeT collaboration. If the event originated from a PBH, the source would need to lie at $(1-7)\times 10^{-5} \mathrm{pc}$ - depending on the assumed effective area - thus within the Solar System. At such proximity, the resulting flux of gamma rays and cosmic rays would be detectable at Earth. By incorporating the time-dependent field of view of gamma-ray observatories, we show that LHAASO should have recorded $\mathcal{O}(10^8)$ events between fourteen and seven hours prior to the KM3NeT detection. IceCube and KM3NeT \textit{itself} should likewise have detected of order a few hundred events in the range $1~\mathrm{TeV} \lesssim E_ν\lesssim 1~\mathrm{PeV}$ during the 24 hours preceding the burst. The absence of any such multi-messenger signal, particularly in gamma-ray data, strongly disfavors the interpretation of the KM3-230213A event as arising from evaporation in a minimal four-dimensional Schwarzschild scenario.

hep-ph↗