The Unexpected Detection of a 3.56 keV Emission Line: Sterile Neutrino Decay Signature?
Title: The Unexpected Detection of a 3.56 keV Emission Line: Sterile Neutrino Decay Signature?
Presenter: Randall Smith (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Abstract: Bulbul et al. (arXiv:1402.2301) detected a weak unidentified emission line at ~3.56 keV in the stacked XMM spectra of 73 galaxy clusters spanning a redshift range 0.01 − 0.35. The line is seen at > 3σ statistical significance in all three independent spectral selections of one XMM detector (MOS) and the full sample of the second (noisier) PN spectra. The line is also detected at the same energy and consistent flux in the Chandra ACIS-S and ACIS-I spectra of the Perseus cluster, although it is not seen in the ACIS-I spectrum of Virgo. Although there are many known X-ray emission lines in the 2-10 keV bandpass, I will discuss why there should be no atomic transitions in thermal plasma at this energy, leaving the intriguing possibility that this line is from the decay of sterile neutrinos.
About the event
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