Abstracts
Neutrinos - the light, the dark, and the vacuum: studies in neutrino astrophysics and beyond-standard-model scenarios in cosmology
| Institution: | University of California San Diego |
|---|---|
| Department: | |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Keywords: | Astrophysics; BNS mergers; Dark matter; Data assimilation; Neutrino transformations; Phase transitions; Supernovae |
| Posted: | 02/01/2018 |
| Record ID: | 2169955 |
| Full text PDF: | http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/2mm747kc |
Abstract
This dissertation is a collection of several works by the author on neutrino astrophysics and cosmology during the course of his doctoral degree. Topics presented in this dissertation include: collective neutrino flavor and spin transformations in compact object environments (Chapters 2 4), a model of "sterile" (i.e., right-handed) neutrino dark matter involving out-of-equilibrium entropy production in the early universe (Chapter 5), and a cosmological model wherein a phase transition in the vacuum energy can engineer overdense regions, potentially seeding early supermassive black hole formation (Chapter 6). Natural units, i.e., hbar = c = kB = 1, have been used throughout, unless otherwise specified.
