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Possible origin of the KM3-230213A neutrino event from dark matter decay

Debasish Borah1,2,*, Nayan Das1,†, Nobuchika Okada3,‡, and Prantik Sarmah4,§

  • *Contact author: dborah@iitg.ac.in
  • †Contact author: nayan.das@iitg.ac.in
  • ‡Contact author: okadan@ua.edu
  • §Contact author: prantiksarmah@ihep.ac.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 111, 123022 – Published 10 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/shsw-mct6

Abstract

We study the possibility of the highest energy neutrino event with 220 PeV energy, detected recently by the KM3NeT experiment to be originating from heavy dark matter (DM) decay. Considering a heavy right handed neutrino (RHN) DM for illustrative purposes, we show that DM mass of 440 PeV, can explain the observed flux. The required DM lifetime to produce the best-fit value of the neutrino flux saturates the existing gamma-ray bounds. Due to the large uncertainty in the flux, it is possible to explain the KM3NeT event from RHN DM decay at 3σ confidence level (CL) while being in agreement with gamma-ray bounds and nonobservation of similar events at IceCube. While we consider a gauged B−L scenario where DM relic can be generated due to other interactions, we also briefly discuss some alternate DM possibilities where the gamma-ray bounds can be alleviated compared to the minimal RHN DM discussed here.

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Phys. Rev. D 111, 123022– Published 10 June, 2025
  • Received 17 March 2025
  • Accepted 15 May 2025
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