Implications of the KM3NeT ultrahigh-energy event on neutrino self-interactions

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Authors: Yuxuan He, Jia Liu, Xiaoping Wang, Yi-Ming Zhong
Cited by: 4
References: 75

Abstract

Neutrino self-interactions ( ν SI ) mediated by light bosonic particles can produce characteristic spectral dips in astrophysical neutrino fluxes, thereby altering the expected energy spectrum. The high-energy astrophysical neutrino spectrum has been extensively used to probe ν SI models through these distinctive features. The recent detection of the ultrahigh-energy event KM3-230213A presents a new opportunity to explore ν SI phenomenology at extreme energies. In this work, we investigate two implications of this observation, assuming the event originates from a diffuse power-law spectrum. First, we find that ν SI -induced spectral distortions can mildly alleviate the tension between the KM3-230213A detection and the previous nonobservation of PeV-scale neutrinos in IceCube data. Second, we derive the strongest constraints on the τ -flavored ν SI coupling strength for mediator masses around 100 MeV. Our analysis shows that neutrino telescopes can surpass existing collider bounds in this mass range. In the near future, IceCube-Gen2 is expected to significantly enhance ν SI sensitivity, including regions relevant to alleviating the Hubble and neutrino mass tensions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena Neutrino Physics Research Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Volume
113
Issue
4
Publication date
20 January 2026
Language
EN