Probing Scalar Non-Standard Neutrino Interactions using High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos

Abstract: Scalar non-standard interaction (SNSI) of neutrinos contributes as modifications to the neutrino mass matrix in the oscillation Hamiltonian and can induce a small active-sterile mass splitting due to the matter effect induced by the relic neutrino background via a Majorana-type interaction. This framework leads to pseudo-Dirac behavior of neutrinos, introducing rich phenomenology in neutrino oscillations, particularly for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. We show that these hyperfine active-sterile splittings imprint themselves in two complementary ways on high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux, namely, in modifying the flavor composition and energy distribution. In this work, we perform both flavor and spectral analyses of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux to probe SNSI. We confront the predicted flavor ratios with current IceCube measurements and with the projected reach of next-generation detectors such as IceCube-Gen2. For the spectral analysis, we use the diffuse-flux ESTES (tracks) and cascade data sets, together with point-source spectral shape analysis based on a recent catalog of neutrino-bright sources. The regions excluded by the combined flavor and spectral analyses are translated into limits on the underlying SNSI parameters, namely, Yukawa couplings and scalar mass, providing new sensitivities on the SNSI parameter space for ultra-light mediators.