Self-interacting neutrinos: Solution to Hubble tension versus experimental constraints

Abstract

Exotic self-interactions among the Standard Model neutrinos have been proposed as a potential reason behind the tension in the expansion rate, H0, of the universe inferred from different observations. We constrain this proposal using electroweak precision observables, rare meson decays, and neutrinoless double-β decay. In contrast to previous works, we emphasize the importance of carrying out this study in a framework with full Standard Model gauge invariance. We implement this first by working with a relevant set of Standard Model effective field theory operators and subsequently by considering a UV completion in the inverse seesaw model. We find that the scenario in which all flavors of neutrinos self-interact universally is strongly constrained, disfavoring a potential solution to the H0 problem in this case. The scenario with self-interactions only among tau neutrinos is the least constrained and can potentially be consistent with a solution to the H0 problem.