Determine the mass and coupling of the Z′ mediator of long-range neutrino interactions

Determine the mass m_{Z′} and coupling strength g_{Z′} of the new neutral vector gauge boson Z′ that arises when gauging flavor-dependent U(1)′ symmetries and mediates long-range neutrino interactions sourced by electrons, protons, and neutrons, in order to characterize the induced Yukawa potential that modifies neutrino oscillations.

Background

The paper studies long-range neutrino interactions generated by gauging anomaly-free combinations of lepton and baryon numbers, which introduce a new neutral vector boson Z′. The induced potential depends on the Z′ mass and coupling and can significantly alter neutrino flavor transitions in DUNE and T2HK if the interaction is sufficiently long-range.

Because the phenomenology and experimental reach depend crucially on the Z′ mass m_{Z′} and coupling g_{Z′}, identifying or constraining these parameters is central to testing such U(1)′ scenarios. The authors forecast sensitivities but emphasize that the parameters themselves are presently unknown.

References

Gauging one of the several candidate symmetries (more on this later) introduces a new neutral vector gauge boson, Z′, whose mass and coupling strength are a priori unknown, and which induces a new Yukawa potential sourced by electrons, neutrons, or protons, depending on the symmetry.

— A plethora of long-range neutrino interactions probed by DUNE and T2HK (2404.02775 - Agarwalla et al., 3 Apr 2024) in Section 1 (Introduction)