Unifying Solar and Reactor Neutrino Anomalies: Evidence for Sterile Neutrinos as a Dark Matter Candidate

Unifying Solar and Reactor Neutrino Anomalies: Evidence for Sterile Neutrinos as a Dark Matter Candidate | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Unifying Solar and Reactor Neutrino Anomalies: Evidence for Sterile Neutrinos as a Dark Matter Candidate Sami Rashid This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7544784/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The long-standing solar neutrino anomaly, characterized by a significant ν e flux deficit relative to the Standard Solar Model (SSM) (Cleveland et al., 1998), and the Reactor An-tineutrino Anomaly (RAA) (Dentler et al., 2018) both strongly suggest the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model. This study presents a unified explanation for these phenomena, focusing on the persistent gallium anomaly (a 10–20% deficit observed at high significance in SAGE, GALLEX/GNO, and BEST (Barinov et al., 2022)) and the RAA (a 6–8% deficit). We propose a 3+1 sterile neutrino model with representative oscillation parameters ∆m 2 41 ≈ 1 eV 2 and sin 2 (2θ 14) ≈ 0.1, derived from global fits (Dasgupta & Kopp, 2021). Using the latest neutrino oscillation parameters from the Particle Data Group (Workman et al., 2022) and Monte Carlo simulations incorporating the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect, our model consistently describes the data from both solar and reactor experiments. Furthermore, we explore the compelling possibility that a keV-scale sterile neutrino within this framework could serve as a viable warm dark matter candidate (Abazajian, 2017), consistent with current cosmological constraints. We provide predictions for upcoming experiments such as DUNE and PROSPECT, which will decisively test this model. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7544784","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":511112390,"identity":"0cd53c34-5ad0-47cd-acd4-e00c0ae07e13","order_by":0,"name":"Sami Rashid","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Freelance Researcher","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sami","middleName":"","lastName":"Rashid","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-05 13:38:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7544784/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7544784/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":90821935,"identity":"0d1e3932-ffc2-4a80-afab-5ac56d0a6f55","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-08 14:29:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":229180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"00000.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7544784/v1_covered_c6c00133-0314-4d92-ad6d-fb69d8d42a81.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Unifying Solar and Reactor Neutrino Anomalies: Evidence for Sterile Neutrinos as a Dark Matter Candidate","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7544784/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7544784/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The long-standing solar neutrino anomaly, characterized by a significant ν e flux deficit relative to the Standard Solar Model (SSM) (Cleveland et al., 1998), and the Reactor An-tineutrino Anomaly (RAA) (Dentler et al., 2018) both strongly suggest the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model. 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