- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Monophotons at neutrino experiments from neutrino polarizability

Julia Gehrlein1,*, Ian M. Shoemaker2,†, and Anil Thapa1,‡

  • *Contact author: julia.gehrlein@colostate.edu
  • †Contact author: shoemaker@vt.edu
  • ‡Contact author: a.thapa@colostate.edu
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 112, 075010 – Published 6 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vc7z-897l

Abstract

Nontrivial electromagnetic properties of neutrinos are an avenue to physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). To this end, we investigate the power of monophoton signals at neutrino experiments to probe a higher-dimensional operator connecting neutrinos to SM photons dubbed, neutrino polarizability. A simplified scenario giving rise to this operator involves a new pseudoscalar that couples to both neutrinos and photons, with clear implications for axionlike particle (ALP) and Majoron physics. By analyzing the photon energy spectrum and angular distributions, we find that NOMAD and MiniBooNE currently set the most stringent limits, while short baseline near detector and the DUNE near detector will soon provide significantly improved constraints.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (101)

  1. B. Abi et al. (DUNE Collaboration), arXiv:2002.03005.
  2. K. Abe et al. (Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration), arXiv:1805.04163.
  3. K. Abe et al. (Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration), arXiv:2505.15019.
  4. F. An et al. (JUNO Collaboration), J. Phys. G 43, 030401 (2016).
  5. A. Ishihara (IceCube Collaboration), Proc. Sci. ICRC2019 (2021) 1031 [arXiv:1908.09441].
  6. S. Adrian-Martinez et al. (KM3Net Collaboration), J. Phys. G 43, 084001 (2016).
  7. P. B. Denton, M. Friend, M. D. Messier, H. A. Tanaka, S. Böser, J. A. B. Coelho, M. Perrin-Terrin, and T. Stuttard, arXiv:2212.00809.
  8. P. A. Machado, O. Palamara, and D. W. Schmitz, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 69, 363 (2019).
  9. A. Abed Abud et al. (DUNE Collaboration), Instruments 5, 31 (2021).
  10. W. Pauli, Pauli letter collection: Letter to Lise Meitner, typed copy, https://cds.cern.ch/record/83282.
  11. C. Giunti and A. Studenikin, Rev. Mod. Phys. 87, 531 (2015).
  12. C. Giunti, K. Kouzakov, Y.-F. Li, and A. Studenikin, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 75, 1 (2024).
  13. R. Foot, G. C. Joshi, H. Lew, and R. R. Volkas, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 05, 95 (1990); 05, 2085(E) (1990).
  14. K. S. Babu and R. N. Mohapatra, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 938 (1989).
  15. G. Barbiellini and G. Cocconi, Nature (London) 329, 21 (1987).
  16. A. N. Khan, Nucl. Phys. B986, 116064 (2023).
  17. S. Jana, M. Klasen, and V. P. K, arXiv:2504.20044.
  18. B. W. Lee and R. E. Shrock, Phys. Rev. D 16, 1444 (1977).
  19. S. T. Petcov, Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 25, 340 (1977); 25, 698(E) (1977); Yad. Fiz. 25, 1336(E) (1977).
  20. P. B. Pal and L. Wolfenstein, Phys. Rev. D 25, 766 (1982).
  21. K. Fujikawa and R. Shrock, Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 963 (1980).
  22. V. Brdar, A. Greljo, J. Kopp, and T. Opferkuch, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2021) 039.
  23. R. E. Shrock, Nucl. Phys. B206, 359 (1982).
  24. M. Dvornikov and A. Studenikin, Phys. Rev. D 69, 073001 (2004).
  25. G. Magill, R. Plestid, M. Pospelov, and Y.-D. Tsai, Phys. Rev. D 98, 115015 (2018).
  26. J. Bernabeu, L. G. Cabral-Rosetti, J. Papavassiliou, and J. Vidal, Phys. Rev. D 62, 113012 (2000).
  27. J. Bernabeu, J. Papavassiliou, and J. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 101802 (2002); 89, 229902(E) (2002).
  28. J. Bernabeu, J. Papavassiliou, and J. Vidal, Nucl. Phys. B680, 450 (2004).
  29. S. Bansal, G. Paz, A. Petrov, M. Tammaro, and J. Zupan, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2023) 142.
  30. Y. Liao, X.-D. Ma, and Q.-Y. Wang, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2020) 162.
  31. W. Altmannshofer, M. Tammaro, and J. Zupan, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2019) 083; 11 (2021) 113(E).
  32. G. B. Gelmini and M. Roncadelli, Phys. Lett. 99B, 411 (1981).
  33. Y. Chikashige, R. N. Mohapatra, and R. D. Peccei, Phys. Lett. 98B, 265 (1981).
  34. J. Schechter and J. W. F. Valle, Phys. Rev. D 25, 774 (1982).
  35. R. D. Peccei and H. R. Quinn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 1440 (1977).
  36. R. D. Peccei and H. R. Quinn, Phys. Rev. D 16, 1791 (1977).
  37. S. Weinberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 223 (1978).
  38. F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 279 (1978).
  39. N. Arkani-Hamed and Y. Grossman, Phys. Lett. B 459, 179 (1999).
  40. K. R. Dienes, E. Dudas, and T. Gherghetta, Phys. Rev. D 62, 105023 (2000).
  41. S. Chang, S. Tazawa, and M. Yamaguchi, Phys. Rev. D 61, 084005 (2000).
  42. L. Di Lella, A. Pilaftsis, G. Raffelt, and K. Zioutas, Phys. Rev. D 62, 125011 (2000).
  43. A. Davidson and K. C. Wali, Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 11 (1982).
  44. F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 1549 (1982).
  45. Y. Ema, K. Hamaguchi, T. Moroi, and K. Nakayama, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2017) 096.
  46. L. Calibbi, F. Goertz, D. Redigolo, R. Ziegler, and J. Zupan, Phys. Rev. D 95, 095009 (2017).
  47. L. F. Abbott and P. Sikivie, Phys. Lett. 120B, 133 (1983).
  48. M. Dine and W. Fischler, Phys. Lett. 120B, 137 (1983).
  49. J. Preskill, M. B. Wise, and F. Wilczek, Phys. Lett. 120B, 127 (1983).
  50. M. Cicoli, in Proceedings of the 9th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs (2013), pp. 235–242, arXiv:1309.6988.
  51. B. Dutta, A. Karthikeyan, D. Kim, A. Thompson, and R. G. Van de Water, arXiv:2504.08071.
  52. E. Wang, L. Alvarez-Ruso, and J. Nieves, Phys. Rev. C 89, 015503 (2014).
  53. E. Wang, L. Alvarez-Ruso, Y. Hayato, K. Mahn, and J. Nieves, Phys. Rev. D 92, 053005 (2015).
  54. R. Acciarri et al. (MicroBooNE, LAr1-ND, and ICARUS-WA104 Collaborations), arXiv:1503.01520.
  55. P. Abratenko et al. (MicroBooNE Collaboration), arXiv:2502.06064.
  56. C. T. Kullenberg et al. (NOMAD Collaboration), Phys. Lett. B 706, 268 (2012).
  57. K. Abe et al. (T2K Collaboration), J. Phys. G 46, 08LT01 (2019).
  58. A. M. Abdullahi, J. Hoefken Zink, M. Hostert, D. Massaro, and S. Pascoli, Phys. Rev. D 111, 035028 (2025).
  59. M. Bauer, M. Neubert, S. Renner, M. Schnubel, and A. Thamm, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2021) 063.
  60. M. Chala, G. Guedes, M. Ramos, and J. Santiago, Eur. Phys. J. C 81, 181 (2021).
  61. J. Bonilla, I. Brivio, M. B. Gavela, and V. Sanz, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2021) 168.
  62. J. Heeck and H. H. Patel, Phys. Rev. D 100, 095015 (2019).
  63. J. Bonilla, B. Gavela, and J. Machado-Rodríguez, Phys. Rev. D 109, 055023 (2024).
  64. N. Sabti, J. Alvey, M. Escudero, M. Fairbairn, and D. Blas, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 08 (2021) A01.
  65. E. Aprile et al. (XENON Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 161805 (2022).
  66. M. Agostini et al. (Borexino Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 96, 091103 (2017).
  67. A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 103, 052002 (2021).
  68. A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 221801 (2018).
  69. R. Acciarri et al. (SBND Collaboration), arXiv:2504.00245.
  70. P. Abratenko et al. (ICARUS Collaboration), Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 467 (2023).
  71. J. Alwall, M. Herquet, F. Maltoni, O. Mattelaer, and T. Stelzer, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2011) 128.
  72. N. D. Christensen and C. Duhr, Comput. Phys. Commun. 180, 1614 (2009).
  73. J. Alwall, R. Frederix, S. Frixione, V. Hirschi, F. Maltoni, O. Mattelaer, H. S. Shao, T. Stelzer, P. Torrielli, and M. Zaro, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2014) 079.
  74. M. Bonesini (SBND, MicroBooNe, and Icarus Collaborations), Proc. Sci. NuFact2021 (2022) 009 [arXiv:2203.05814].
  75. L. Di Noto (ICARUS Collaboration), Proc. Sci. ICHEP2024 (2025) 181.
  76. B. Döbrich, J. Jaeckel, F. Kahlhoefer, A. Ringwald, and K. Schmidt-Hoberg, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2016) 018.
  77. J. D. Lewin and P. F. Smith, Astropart. Phys. 6, 87 (1996).
  78. D. E. Kharzeev, Phys. Rev. D 104, 054015 (2021).
  79. A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 79, 072002 (2009).
  80. A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), arXiv:1207.4809.
  81. Booster neutrino beam flux prediction for MicroBooNE, https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1573216.
  82. MicroBooNE Collaboration, 10.2172/2406203 (2022).
  83. K. Abe et al. (T2K Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 87, 012001 (2013); 87, 019902(A) (2013).
  84. P. Astier et al. (NOMAD Collaboration), Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 515, 800 (2003).
  85. J. Nowak, SBND and short-baseline neutrino program, https://indico.cern.ch/event/1234324/contributions/5686731/attachments/2774163/4836066/SBND_Nowak_NuPhys_Dec2023.pdf.
  86. The NuMI neutrino flux prediction at ICARUS, https://lss.fnal.gov/archive/thesis/2000/fermilab-thesis-2024-18.pdf.
  87. N. Aghanim et al. (Planck Collaboration), Astron. Astrophys. 641, A6 (2020); 652, C4(E) (2021).
  88. M. Escudero and S. J. Witte, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 294 (2020).
  89. P. F. Depta, M. Hufnagel, and K. Schmidt-Hoberg, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 05 (2020) 009.
  90. L. Lancaster, F.-Y. Cyr-Racine, L. Knox, and Z. Pan, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2017) 033.
  91. M. Escudero, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2019) 007.
  92. P. D. Serpico and G. G. Raffelt, Phys. Rev. D 70, 043526 (2004).
  93. N. Sabti, J. Alvey, M. Escudero, M. Fairbairn, and D. Blas, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2020) 004.
  94. G. G. Raffelt and D. S. P. Dearborn, Phys. Rev. D 37, 549 (1988).
  95. M. Haft, G. Raffelt, and A. Weiss, Astrophys. J. 425, 222 (1994); 438, 1017(E) (1995).
  96. G. Lucente, P. Carenza, T. Fischer, M. Giannotti, and A. Mirizzi, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2020) 008.
  97. D. F. G. Fiorillo, G. G. Raffelt, and E. Vitagliano, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 021001 (2023).
  98. N. Blinov, K. J. Kelly, G. Z. Krnjaic, and S. D. McDermott, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 191102 (2019).
  99. K. Blum, Y. Nir, and M. Shavit, Phys. Lett. B 785, 354 (2018).
  100. M. J. Dolan, T. Ferber, C. Hearty, F. Kahlhoefer, and K. Schmidt-Hoberg, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2017) 094; 03 (2021) 190(E).
  101. F. Abudinén et al. (Belle-II Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 161806 (2020).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 075010– Published 6 October, 2025
  • Received 30 June 2025
  • Accepted 14 September 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation