Abstract
In recent papers it was claimed that SN 1987A data supports the existence of 4.0 eV and 21.4 eV active neutrino mass eigenstates, and it was suggested that such large active neutrino masses could be made consistent with existing constraints including neutrino oscillation data and upper limits on the neutrino flavor state masses. The requirement was that there exist a pair of sterile neutrino mass states nearly degenerate with the active ones, plus a third active-sterile doublet that is tachyonic (m 2<0). Here, independent evidence is presented for the existence of sterile neutrinos with the previously claimed masses based on fits to the dark matter distributions in the Milky Way galaxy and four clusters of galaxies. The fits are in excellent agreement with observations within the uncertainties of the masses. In addition, sterile neutrinos having the suggested masses address the “cusp” problem and the missing satellites problem, as well as that of the “top down” scenario of structure formation—previously a chief drawback of HDM particles. Nevertheless, due to the highly controversial nature of the claim, and the need for two free parameters in the dark matter fits, additional confirming evidence will be required before it can be considered proven.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angus, G.W.: Is an 11 eV sterile neutrino consistent with clusters, the cosmic microwave background and modified Newtonian dynamics? Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 394, 527 (2008)
Beringer, J., et al. (Particle Data Group): Review of particle physics. Phys. Rev. D 86, 010001 (2012). http://pdg.lbl.gov
Chan, M.H., Chu, M.-C.: Observational constraints of sterile neutrinos in galaxies. Astrophys. Space Sci. 319, 143 (2009)
Chen, Y.I., Böhringer, Y.H.: X-ray spectroscopy of the cluster of galaxies PKS 0745-191 with XMM-Newton. Astron. Astrophys. 407, 41 (2003)
Cho, A.: How hot is dark matter? Science 336, 1091–1092 (2012)
Cowsik, R.: Neutrino masses and flavors emitted in the supernova SN1987A. Phys. Rev. D 37, 1685 (1988)
Davies, P.C.W., Moss, I.G.: Cosmological bounds on tachyonic neutrinos. Astropart. Phys. 35, 679 (2012)
de Blok, W.J.G.: The core-cusp problem. Adv. Astron. 2010, 789293 (2010)
Dodelson, S., Widrow, L.M.: Sterile neutrinos as dark matter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 17 (1994)
Efremenko, Y., Hix, W.R.: In: Carolina International Symposium on Neutrino Physics (2008). arXiv:0807.2801
Ehrlich, R.: Evidence for two neutrino mass eigenstates from SN 1987A and the possibility of superluminal neutrinos. Astropart. Phys. 35, 625 (2012)
Ehrlich, R.: Tachyonic neutrinos and the neutrino masses. Astropart. Phys. 41, 1 (2013a)
Ehrlich, R.: Could a reported 2007 analysis of Super-Kamiokande data have missed a detectable supernova signal from Andromeda? (2013b). arXiv:1301.3390
Flynn, C., Sommer-Larsen, J., Christensen, J.P.R.: Kinematics of the outer stellar halo. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 281, 1027 (1996)
Hoshino, A., et al.: X-ray temperature and mass measurements to the virial radius of Abell 1413 with Suzaku. Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 62, 371 (2010)
Hudepohl, L., Müller, B., Janka, H.T., Marek, A., Raffelt, G.G.: Neutrino signal of electron-capture supernovae from core collapse to cooling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 249901(E) (2010)
Huzita, H.: Neutrino mass speculation on the neutrino events from the supernova LMC 1987 A. Mod. Phys. Lett. A 2, 905 (1987)
Ikeda, M., et al.: Search for supernova neutrino bursts at Super-Kamiokande. Astrophys. J. 669, 519 (2007)
Joudaki, S., Abazajian, K.N., Kaplinghat, M.: Are light sterile neutrinos preferred or disfavored by cosmology? Phys. Rev. D 87, 065003 (2013)
King, I.R.: Density data and emission measure for a model of the Coma cluster. Astrophys. J. 174, L123 (1972)
Mention, G., et al.: Reactor antineutrino anomally. Phys. Rev. D 83, 073006 (2010)
Navarro, J.F., Frenk, C.S., White, S.D.M.: A universal density profile from hierarchical clustering. Astrophys. J. 490, 493 (1997)
Newman, A.B., Treu, T., Ellis, R.S., Sand, D.J.: The dark matter distribution in A383: evidence for a shallow density cusp from improved lensing, stellar kinematic, and X-ray data. Astrophys. J. 728, L39 (2011)
Petraki, K.: Small-scale structure formation properties of chilled sterile neutrinos as dark matter. Phys. Rev. D 77, 105004 (2008)
Pointecouteau, E., Arnaud, M., Kaastra, J., de Plaa, J.: XMM-Newton observation of the relaxed cluster A478: gas and dark matter distribution from 0.01R200 to 0.5R200. Astron. Astrophys. 423, 33 (2004)
Pointecouteau, E., Arnaud, M., Pratt, G.W.: The structural and scaling properties of nearby galaxy clusters: I—the universal mass profile. Astron. Astrophys. 435, 1 (2005)
Pratt, G.W., Arnaud, M.: The mass profile of A1413 observed with XMM-Newton: implications for the M-T relation. Astron. Astrophys. 394, 375 (2002)
Reiprich, T.H., Böhringer, H.: The mass function of an X-ray flux-limited sample of galaxy clusters. Astrophys. J. 567, 716 (2002)
Sand, D.J., Treu, T., Ellis, R.S., Smith, G.P., Kenib, J.P.: Separating baryons and dark matter in cluster cores: a full two-dimensional lensing and dynamic analysis of Abell 383 and MS 2137-23. Astrophys. J. 674, 711 (2008)
Sanders, J.S., Fabian, A.C., Taylor, G.B.: A Chandra observation of the disturbed cluster core of Abell 2204. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 356, 1022 (2005)
Shi, X.D., Fuller, G.M.: New dark matter candidate: nonthermal sterile neutrinos. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2832 (1999)
Sofue, Y., Tutui, Y., Honma, M., Tomita, A., Takamiya, T., Koda, J., Takeda, Y.: Central rotation curves of spiral galaxies. Astrophys. J. 523, 136 (1999)
Sofue, Y.: Grand rotation curve and dark matter halo in the Milky Way Galaxy. Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 64, 75 (2011)
Spergel, D.N., Steinhardt, P.J.: Observational evidence for self-interacting cold dark matter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3760 (2000)
Totani, T., Sato, K., Dalhed, H.E., Wilson, J.R.: Future detection of supernova neutrino burst and explosion mechanism. Astrophys. J. 496, 216 (1998)
Tyson, J.A., Kochanski, G.P., dell’Antonio, I.P.: Detailed mass map of CL 0024+1654 from strong lensing. Astrophys. J. 498, L107 (1998)
Vikhlinin, A., Kravtsov, A., Forman, W., Jones, C., Markevitch, M., Murray, S.S., Van Speybroeck, L.: Chandra sample of nearby relaxed galaxy clusters: mass, gas fraction, and mass-temperature relation. Astrophys. J. 640, 691 (2006)
Wetterich, C.: A Universe without expansion (2013). arXiv:1303.6878
Zhao, H.S.: Reinterpreting MOND: coupling of Einsteinian gravity and spin of cosmic neutrinos? (2008). arXiv:0805.4046
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chan, M.H., Ehrlich, R. Sterile neutrino fits to dark matter mass profiles in the Milky Way and in galaxy clusters. Astrophys Space Sci 349, 407–413 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-013-1603-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-013-1603-2