1. Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
- Author
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Abbasi, R, Ackermann, M, Adams, J, Aguilar, JA, Ahlers, M, Ahrens, M, Alameddine, JM, Alves, AA, Amin, NM, Andeen, K, Anderson, T, Anton, G, Argüelles, C, Ashida, Y, Axani, S, Bai, X, V., A Balagopal, Barwick, SW, Bastian, B, Basu, V, Baur, S, Bay, R, Beatty, JJ, Becker, K-H, Tjus, J Becker, Beise, J, Bellenghi, C, Benda, S, BenZvi, S, Berley, D, Bernardini, E, Besson, DZ, Binder, G, Bindig, D, Blaufuss, E, Blot, S, Boddenberg, M, Bontempo, F, Book, JY, Borowka, J, Böser, S, Botner, O, Böttcher, J, Bourbeau, E, Bradascio, F, Braun, J, Brinson, B, Bron, S, Brostean-Kaiser, J, Burley, RT, Busse, RS, Campana, MA, Carnie-Bronca, EG, Chen, C, Chen, Z, Chirkin, D, Choi, K, Clark, BA, Clark, K, Classen, L, Coleman, A, Collin, GH, Conrad, JM, Coppin, P, Correa, P, Cowen, DF, Cross, R, Dappen, C, Dave, P, De Clercq, C, DeLaunay, JJ, López, D Delgado, Dembinski, H, Deoskar, K, Desai, A, Desiati, P, de Vries, KD, de Wasseige, G, de With, M, DeYoung, T, Diaz, A, Díaz-Vélez, JC, Dittmer, M, Dujmovic, H, Dunkman, M, DuVernois, MA, Ehrhardt, T, Eller, P, Engel, R, Erpenbeck, H, Evans, J, Evenson, PA, Fan, KL, Fazely, AR, Fedynitch, A, Feigl, N, Fiedlschuster, S, Fienberg, AT, Finley, C, and Fischer, L
- Subjects
Nuclear and Plasma Physics ,Particle and High Energy Physics ,Physical Sciences ,IceCube Collaboration ,Mathematical Sciences ,Engineering ,General Physics ,Mathematical sciences ,Physical sciences - Abstract
We present a search for an unstable sterile neutrino by looking for a resonant signal in eight years of atmospheric ν_{μ} data collected from 2011 to 2019 at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Both the (stable) three-neutrino and the 3+1 sterile neutrino models are disfavored relative to the unstable sterile neutrino model, though with p values of 2.8% and 0.81%, respectively, we do not observe evidence for 3+1 neutrinos with neutrino decay. The best-fit parameters for the sterile neutrino with decay model from this study are Δm_{41}^{2}=6.7_{-2.5}^{+3.9} eV^{2}, sin^{2}2θ_{24}=0.33_{-0.17}^{+0.20}, and g^{2}=2.5π±1.5π, where g is the decay-mediating coupling. The preferred regions of the 3+1+decay model from short-baseline oscillation searches are excluded at 90% C.L.
- Published
- 2022