Sterile neutrino dark matter catalyzed by a very light dark photon

Sterile neutrinos ($ν_s$) that mix with active neutrinos ($ν_a$) are interesting dark matter candidates with a rich cosmological and astrophysical phenomenology. In their simplest incarnation, their production is severely constrained by a combination of structure formation observations and X-ray searches. We show that if active neutrinos couple to an oscillating condensate of a very light $L_μ-L_τ$ gauge field, resonant $ν_a$-$ν_s$ oscillations can occur in the early universe, consistent with $ν_s$ constituting all of the dark matter, while respecting X-ray constraints on $ν_s\toν_aγ$ decays. Interesting deviations from standard solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations can persist to the present.

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