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First Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Preprint   Open access

First Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

R Abbasi, M Ackermann, J Adams, J. A Aguilar, M Ahlers, M Ahrens, J. M Alameddine, A. A AlvesJr, N. M Amin, K Andeen, …
arXiv.org
01 Apr 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2204.00612
url
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2204.00612View
Preprint (Author's original)arXiv.org - Non-exclusive license to distribute,  Open

Abstract

Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment High Energy Physics
We present a search for an unstable sterile neutrino by looking for a matter-induced signal in eight years of atmospheric \nu_\mu 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 2.5\% 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 \Delta m_{41}^2=6.7^{+3.9}_{-2.5}\,\rm{eV}^2 , \sin^2 2\theta_{24}=0.33^{+0.20}_{-0.17}, and g^2=2.5\pi\pm1.5\pi, where g is the decay-mediating coupling. The preferred regions from short-baseline oscillation searches are excluded at 90\% C.L.

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