We present an in-depth analysis of the flavour and spectral composition of the 36 high-energy neutrino events observed after three years of observation by the IceCube neutrino telescope. While known astrophysical sources of HE neutrinos are expected
to produce a nearly $(1:1:1)$ flavour ratio (electron : muon : tau) of neutrinos at earth, we show that the best fits based on the events detected above $E_ u ge 28$ TeV do not necessarily support this hypothesis. Crucially, the energy range that is considered when analysing the HE neutrino data can have a profound impact on the conclusions. We highlight two intriguing puzzles: an apparent deficit of muon neutrinos, seen via a deficit of track-like events; and an absence of $bar u_e$s at high energy, seen as an absence of events near the Glashow resonance. We discuss possible explanations, including the misidentification of tracks as showers, and a broken power law, in analogy to the observed HE cosmic ray spectrum.
We study the effects of energy transport in the Sun by asymmetric dark matter with momentum and velocity-dependent interactions, with an eye to solving the decade-old Solar Abundance Problem. We study effective theories where the dark matter-nucleon
scattering cross-section goes as $v_{rm rel}^{2n}$ and $q^{2n}$ with $n = -1, 0, 1 $ or $2$, where $v_{rm rel}$ is the dark matter-nucleon relative velocity and $q$ is the momentum exchanged in the collision. Such cross-sections can arise generically as leading terms from the most basic nonstandard DM-quark operators. We employ a high-precision solar simulation code to study the impact on solar neutrino rates, the sound speed profile, convective zone depth, surface helium abundance and small frequency separations. We find that the majority of models that improve agreement with the observed sound speed profile and depth of the convection zone also reduce neutrino fluxes beyond the level that can be reasonably accommodated by measurement and theory errors. However, a few specific points in parameter space yield a significant overall improvement. A 3-5 GeV DM particle with $sigma_{SI} propto q^2$ is particularly appealing, yielding more than a $6sigma$ improvement with respect to standard solar models, while being allowed by direct detection and collider limits. We provide full analytical capture expressions for $q$- and $v_{rm rel}$-dependent scattering, as well as complete likelihood tables for all models.
Broad disagreement persists between helioseismological observables and predictions of solar models computed with the latest surface abundances. Here we show that most of these problems can be solved by the presence of asymmetric dark matter coupling
to nucleons as the square of the momentum $q$ exchanged in the collision. We compute neutrino fluxes, small frequency separations, surface helium abundances, sound speed profiles and convective zone depths for a number of models, showing more than a $6sigma$ preference for $q^2$ models over others, and over the Standard Solar Model. The preferred mass (3,GeV) and reference dark matter-nucleon cross-section ($10^{-37}$,cm$^2$ at $q_0 = 40$,MeV) are within the region of parameter space allowed by both direct detection and collider searches.
