Abstract
Right-handed neutrinos (νR) are often considered as a portal to new hidden physics. It is tempting to consider a gauge singlet scalar (ϕ) that exclusively couples to νR via a νRνRϕ term. Such a νR-philic scalar does not interact with charged fermions at tree level but loop-induced effective interactions are inevitable, which are systematically investigated in this work. The magnitude of the loop-induced couplings coincidentally meets the current sensitivity of fifth-force searches. In particular, the loop-induced coupling to muons could be tested in the recent LIGO observations of neutron star mergers as there might be a sizable Yukawa force in the binary system mediated by the νR-philic scalar.