惰性中微子（sterile neutrino）是温暗物质的候选者，不参加除引力以外的任何相互作用。在标准模型中为单态。

2016年2月，大亚湾核反应堆中微子实验团队发表论文表示，收集到的反电中微子，其数量比理论预测低6%。这结果意味着有些反电中微子可能以变换成无法探测到的轻质量惰性中微子。

Sterile neutrinos (or inert neutrinos) are hypothetical particles (neutral leptons – neutrinos) that interact only via gravity and do not interact via any of the fundamental interactions of the Standard Model. The term sterile neutrino is used to distinguish them from the known active neutrinos in the Standard Model, which are charged under the weak interaction.