Neutrino Telescopes: Searching for/Exploring Beyond Standard Model Physics.

• Grant number: 25/03199-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Orlando Luis Goulart Peres
• Grantee: Amirfarzan Esmaeili Taklimi
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics provides a comprehensive framework for describing fundamental interactions, yet it remains incomplete, as it cannot account for key open questions such as the origin of neutrino masses and the nature of dark matter (DM). This project aims to investigate these Beyond Standard Model (BSM) phenomena using high-energy neutrino observations from neutrino telescopes. In this line, this project focuses on two key directions: understanding neutrino properties and exploring the nature of dark matter (DM), utilizing the neutrino telescopes. Unlike cosmic rays and photons, neutrinos propagate over cosmological distances without deflection or significant absorption, making them powerful probes of astrophysical environments and new physics. To this aim, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has already detected high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, and ongoing observations continue to refine our understanding of their sources and interactions.In this context, this project aims to leverage high-energy neutrino data to pursue two main objectives: (i) investigating neutrino properties, including non-standard interactions and oscillation effects within BSM frameworks, and (ii) exploring dark matter particle models through indirect detection signatures from neutrino production in dark matter annihilation or decay, using neutrino telescopes.We expect that the outcomes of this project will provide more stringent constraints on existing and upcoming BSM models. (AU)