arXiv subjects

Michiru Uwabo-Niibo

Publications and source records attributed to Michiru Uwabo-Niibo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Neutrino-electron scattering kernels in isotropic media

In the early universe, neutrinos undergo many interactions with the particles in the plasma. Key processes are the scattering of neutrinos by free electrons and positrons. In this paper, we derive general expressions for the electron neutrino-electron scattering kernel in isotropic media, analytically simplifying the 5D collision integral to two dimensions. We follow a procedure that is similar to the derivation of the Compton scattering kernel to reduce the angular integrals, yielding a compact analytic expression in terms of elementary functions that can be easily evaluated. We illustrate the properties of this kernel and also compute its first moments analytically, providing insights into the energetics of the redistribution process. For comparison, we consider the photon-electron scattering kernel, highlighting differences and similarities. We then explain how the obtained expressions can also be applied to the $ν_{μ/τ}$-electron and neutrino-positron scattering processes. The results presented here may be useful in the context of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and were added as an extension to the Compton scattering library CSpack for more general applications.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Minimal Majoron Dark Matter from a Discrete $Z_N$ Gauge Symmetry

We investigate majoron dark matter in a minimal setup, where the Standard Model is extended by three right-handed neutrinos and a complex scalar field. The theory is defined by an exact discrete gauge symmetry, $Z_N\subset U(1)_{B-L}$, while the global $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry emerges only as an accidental symmetry at low energies. For nontrivial choices of the discrete symmetry $Z_N$, such as $Z_5$, $Z_7$, $Z_{11}$, and $Z_{13}$, Planck-suppressed operators explicitly break this accidental symmetry and generate a small majoron mass, making the resulting pseudo-Nambu--Goldstone boson a well-motivated dark matter candidate. We study its production via the misalignment mechanism after inflation, considering both radiation-dominated and early matter-dominated cosmological histories, and confront the viable parameter space with isocurvature bounds, cosmological constraints, and indirect dark matter searches. We find that the $Z_5$ model is excluded by limits on the dominant dark matter decay into neutrinos, whereas the other models remain viable. In particular, the $Z_7$ scenario predicts a majoron mass in the $1$--$10\,{\rm MeV}$ range and can be sensitively probed by future MeV gamma-ray observations, especially with COSI, through the 511$\,$keV line from the majoron decay into an electron--positron pair and the monochromatic gamma-ray line from its decay into two photons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Pathways and impediments towards a detection of the relic neutrino wind

A direct detection of the cosmic neutrino background (CNB) in laboratories on Earth has been called the ``holy grail'' of experimental neutrino physics, but a still more glorious prize awaits. Beyond simply detecting the presence of relic neutrinos and measuring their flux, one may aspire to measure their energy distribution, polarization, anisotropies, temporal variation, and other properties. In this work we focus on the CNB wind, which is the approximately dipolar anisotropy in the CNB flux resulting from the relative velocity of the CNB rest frame and the lab frame. We consider a CNB detection strategy based on measuring the angular distribution of recoiling electrons at the tritium $β$-decay endpoint. In order to quantify the difficulty of detecting the CNB wind, we calculate the required exposure (detector mass times observation duration) for a $3σ$ discovery. We find that detecting the CNB wind would require an exposure that is at least $10^{5}$ times larger than what's required for detecting the CNB flux alone. Additionally if the experimental energy resolution were to exceed the neutrino mass scale, then an exceptionally good control of systematic uncertainties would also be required. For nonrelativistic neutrinos, the Majorana wind signal is suppressed relative to the Dirac case by the cancellation of the leading helicity-odd angular-correlation term, leading parametrically to an exposure penalty of order $(m_ν/T_ν)^2$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Multimodal axion emissions from Abelian-Higgs cosmic strings

We show that axions can be produced from Abelian-Higgs cosmic strings due to the axion-gauge coupling. The strong magnetic field is confined in the string, and the electric field is induced around the moving string, allowing axion productions from the dynamics of cosmic strings. Our numerical analysis on the string collision shows that a sizable number of axions can be produced at the reconnection, and further emissions occur from moving kinks afterward. Large-scale lattice simulations of the string network further reveal multimodal axion emissions in the sense that axions are produced in both the low-energy and high-energy regimes. The former can contribute to the cold dark matter and the latter can be regarded as dark radiation. We found that the axion with GeV or heavier mass can explain the current relic dark matter abundance and simultaneously predicts a sizable amount of dark radiation which can be probed by future observations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Illuminating the dark universe in the multi-messenger era

The precision era of multi-messenger astronomy, together with modern astrophysical, cosmological, and gravitational wave observations, increasingly points toward the existence of a ``dark" sector that cannot be explained within the framework of the Standard Model of particle physics and General Relativity. In this review, we explore extensions of standard physics and examine how observational data can be used to probe new particles and interactions. We consider a wide range of scales, from Solar System tests to galactic and cosmological observations, and investigate both conventional dark matter candidates, such as weakly interacting massive particles, and alternative scenarios including ultralight fields and primordial black holes. We discuss constraints derived from compact objects such as neutron stars, black holes, pulsars, and magnetars observations as well as from high-energy astrophysical phenomena. In addition, we analyze extensions of General Relativity involving additional scalar fields and their impact on gravitational wave signals and stochastic backgrounds from primordial black holes. We also study the capture and accumulation of dark matter in compact objects, which can alter properties such as mass, radius, and tidal deformability, and consider scenarios in which dark matter decays into Standard Model particles. While current observations already place significant limits on dark matter and modified-gravity models, upcoming experiments and observatories are expected to further probe or discover such new physics by improving constraints on particle masses and interaction strengths.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Effects of New Forces on Scalar Dark Matter Solitons

New long range forces acting on ordinary matter are highly constrained. However it is possible such forces act on dark matter, as it is less constrained observationally. In this work, we consider dark matter to be made of light bosons, such as axions. We introduce a mediator that communicates a new force between dark matter particles, in addition to gravity. The mediator is taken to be light, but not massless, so that it can affect small scale galactic behavior, but not current cosmological behavior. As a concrete application of this idea, we analyze the effects on scalar dark matter solitons bound by gravitation, i.e., boson stars, which have been claimed to potentially provide cores of galaxies. We numerically determine the soliton's profiles in the presence of this new force. We also extend the analysis to multiple mediators. We show that this new force alters the relation between core density and core radius in a way that can provide improvement in fitting data to observed galactic cores, but for couplings of order the gravitational strength, the improvement is only modest.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Peaks sphericity of non-Gaussian random fields

We formulate the statistics of peaks of non-Gaussian random fields and implement it to study the sphericity of peaks. For non-Gaussianity of the local type, we present a general formalism valid regardless of how large the deviation from Gaussian statistics is. For general types of non-Gaussianity, we provide a framework that applies to any system with a given power spectrum and the corresponding bispectrum in the regime in which contributions from higher-order correlators can be neglected. We present an explicit expression for the most probable values of the sphericity parameters, including the effect of non-Gaussianity on the shape. We show that the effects of small perturbative non-Gaussianity on the sphericity parameters are negligible, as they are even smaller than the subleading Gaussian corrections. In contrast, we find that large non-Gaussianity can significantly distort the peak configurations, making them much less spherical.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Formation of defects associated with both spontaneous and explicit symmetry breaking

We discuss formation of cosmic strings associated with a spontaneously broken approximate $U(1)$ symmetry by performing classical field-theoretical simulations. An original $U(1)$ symmetry is explicitly broken down to its subgroup $Z_N$ even before spontaneous breaking takes place. We estimate the ratio of explicit breaking to that of spontaneous breaking for which topological defects for $N=1$ and $N=2$ are formed. For $N=1$, a cosmic string attached to a single domain wall can be formed when the amount of the explicit breaking is three orders of magnitude smaller than that of the spontaneous breaking. For $N=2$, no matter how large the explicit breaking is, domain walls are inevitably formed as long as the temperature of the Universe is high enough to restore $Z_2$ symmetry. In that case, cosmic strings are also inevitably formed as long as the amount of the explicit breaking is smaller than that of the spontaneous breaking.

hep-ph↗