Constraints on active-sterile neutrino transition magnetic moments from low-energy electronic recoils at direct detection experiments

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Mustamin M., Demirci M.

PHYSICS LETTERS, SECTION B: NUCLEAR, ELEMENTARY PARTICLE AND HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS, cilt.874, ss.1-10, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

• Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
• Cilt numarası: 874
• Basım Tarihi: 2026
• Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140261
• Dergi Adı: PHYSICS LETTERS, SECTION B: NUCLEAR, ELEMENTARY PARTICLE AND HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS
• Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Chemical Abstracts Core, INSPEC, MathSciNet, zbMATH, Directory of Open Access Journals
• Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-10
• Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Sterile neutrinos can potentially be produced through neutrino transition magnetic moments in neutrino-electron scattering. In this work, we investigate this dipole portal by analyzing low-energy electronic recoil data from the PandaX-4T (Run0 and Run1) and XENONnT experiments. We focus on the up-scattering of solar neutrinos into sterile states via the transition magnetic moment. By performing a comprehensive analysis, we derive robust exclusion limits on the neutrino flavor-independent and flavor-dependent transition magnetic moments for fixed sterile neutrino masses as well as on the mass-coupling parameter space. We demonstrate that, since they can detect solar neutrino-induced processes, direct detection experiments offer a unique framework for studying all possible neutrino flavors. The obtained limits extend the sensitivity to previously unexplored regions of the parameter space.