Type: Article
Publication Date: 2023-11-16
Citations: 8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.108.095028
Some properties of a neutrino may differ significantly depending on whether it is Dirac or Majorana type. The type is determined by the relative size of Dirac and Majorana masses, which may vary if they arise from an oscillating scalar dark matter. We show that the change can be significant enough to convert the neutrino type between Dirac and Majorana periodically while satisfying constraints on the dark matter. This neutrino type oscillation predicts periodic modulations in the event rates in various neutrino phenomena including the neutrinoless double beta decay. As the energy density and, thus, the oscillation amplitude of the dark matter evolves in the cosmic timescale, the neutrino masses change accordingly, which provides an interesting link between the present-time neutrino physics to the early universe cosmology including the leptogenesis.