Dark Matter-Enhanced Probe of Relic Neutrino Clustering

Abstract: We propose heavy decaying dark matter (DM) as a new probe of the cosmic neutrino background (C$\nu$B). Heavy DM, with mass $\gtrsim 10^9$ GeV, decaying into neutrinos can be a new source of ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos. Including this contribution along with the measured astrophysical and predicted cosmogenic neutrino fluxes, we study the scattering of UHE neutrinos with the C$\nu$B via standard weak interactions mediated by the $Z$-boson. We solve the complete neutrino transport equation, taking into account both absorption and reinjection effects, to calculate the expected spectrum of UHE neutrino flux at future neutrino telescopes, such as IceCube-Gen2 Radio. We argue that such observations can be used to probe the C$\nu$B properties, and in particular, local C$\nu$B clustering. We find that, depending on the absolute neutrino mass and the DM mass and lifetime, a local C$\nu$B overdensity $\gtrsim 10^6$ can be probed at IceCube-Gen2 Radio within 10 years of data taking.