Interactions of MeV and GeV sterile neutrinos with matter

Abstract

Both cosmology and astrophysics suggest the possible existence of sterile neutrino which is a dark matter candidate. The interaction of sterile neutrinos with matter in keV energy scale has been studied in the literature. In this paper we study the interaction of sterile neutrinos with atoms and their role on ionization of atoms in MeV and GeV energy scale. We also study the interaction of sterile neutrinos with nuclei in the MeV and GeV energy scale. We obtain the relevant cross sections for both these two interactions. Finally we compare our results with the results of keV energy range.