| Summary: | Abstract We discuss the effect of Beyond the Standard Model charged current interactions on the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background by neutrino capture on tritium in a PTOLEMY-like detector. We show that the total capture rate can be substantially modified for Dirac neutrinos if scalar or tensor right-chiral currents, with strength consistent with current experimental bounds, are at play. We find that the total capture rate for Dirac neutrinos, Γ D BSM , can be between 0.3 to 2.2 of what is expected for Dirac neutrinos in the Standard Model, Γ D SM , so that it can be made as large as the rate expected for Majorana neutrinos with only Standard Model interactions. A non-negligible primordial abundance of right-handed neutrinos can only worsen the situation, increasing Γ D BSM by 30 to 90%. On the other hand, if a much lower total rate is measured than what is expected for Γ D SM , it may be a sign of new physics.
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