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Neutrino self-interaction and weak mixing-angle measurements

Yue Zhang

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 035027 – Published 20 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7y8g-56fz

Abstract

Neutrino self-interaction with a larger “Fermi constant” is often resorted to for understanding various puzzles of our Universe. We point out that a light, neutrinophilic scalar particle ϕ through radiative correction leads to an energy-scale dependence in the neutrino-Z-boson gauge coupling. The driver behind this phenomenon is a large separation between the mass scales of ϕ and additional heavy particles needed for gauge invariance. This is a generic effect insensitive to details of the UV completion. We show that the running can change the Zνν¯ coupling by several percent and affect the measurement of weak mixing angle through neutrino neutral-current processes. We discuss the interplay between the running of the Zνν¯ coupling and sin2θW in various experimental observables. It is possible to disentangle the two effects with more than one precise measurement.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 035027– Published 20 August, 2025
  • Received 18 November 2024
  • Accepted 29 July 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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