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Neutrino absolute masses for technosignature modeling

Determine the absolute rest masses of the neutrino mass eigenstates to enable accurate modeling of neutrino technosignatures produced when a general relativistic warp bubble scatters ambient neutrino backgrounds (cosmic neutrino background, diffuse supernova neutrino background, cosmogenic, and high-energy neutrinos).

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Background

In modeling extrinsic emissions, the paper considers scattering of ambient neutrino backgrounds by a moving warp bubble. The spectral distribution and flux of scattered neutrinos depend on the neutrino mass spectrum and basis (mass vs. flavor), which the authors note is not fully determined.

Because the fundamental neutrino masses remain unknown, the authors adopt a simplifying assumption of a single neutrino species with a nominal mass (0.1 eV) to produce example spectra. Firm values for the absolute neutrino masses would allow more precise predictions of the observed neutrino technosignatures from warp bubble interactions.

References

In general we should be discussing all degrees of neutrinos, whether in the mass normal basis or the flavor normal basis, but as the neutrinos' fundamental masses remain unknown we will for purposes of demonstration consider only a singular species of neutrino/anti-neutrino and project spectra to match.

— Motivating Emissions from Positive Energy Warp Bubbles (2405.19381 - Lentz et al., 29 May 2024) in Section 3.2 (Extrinsic Emissions)