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Limiting the Parameter Space for Unstable eV-scale Neutrinos Using IceCube Data
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Limiting the Parameter Space for Unstable eV-scale Neutrinos Using IceCube Data

R Abbasi, M Ackermann, J Adams, S. K Agarwalla, J. A Aguilar, M Ahlers, J. M Alameddine, S Ali, N. M Amin, K Andeen, …
ArXiv.org
30 Sep 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2510.00209
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Abstract

Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment Physics - High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
This Letter extends a recent IceCube sterile neutrino search to include unstable sterile neutrinos within the context of a model termed 3+1+Decay, which expands upon the 3+1 model by introducing sterile neutrino decay to invisible particles with coupling constant$g^2$ . The model is attractive since it reduces tension between oscillation experiments within the global fits and with constraints that come from cosmological observables. The analysis uses 10.7 years of up-going muon neutrino data with energy 500 GeV to 100 TeV and with improved reconstruction and modeling of systematics. The best-fit point is found to be$g^2 = 0$ ,$\sin^2(2θ_{24}) = 0.16$ , and$Δm^{2}_{41} = 3.5$eV $^2$ , in agreement with the recent 3+1 sterile neutrino search. Values of$g^2 \geq π$are excluded at 95\% confidence level. This result substantially limits decay parameter space indicated by recent global fits, disfavoring the decay scenario.

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