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Title: Dual-Baseline Search for Active-to-Sterile Neutrino Oscillations in NOvA
We report a search for neutrino oscillations to sterile neutrinos under a model with three active and one sterile neutrinos ( 3 + 1 model). This analysis uses the NOvA detectors exposed to the NuMI beam, running in neutrino mode. The data exposure, 13.6 × 10 20 protons on target, doubles that previously analyzed by NOvA, and the analysis is the first to use ν μ charged-current interactions in conjunction with neutral-current interactions. Neutrino samples in the near and far detectors are fitted simultaneously, enabling the search to be carried out over a Δ m 41 2 range extending 2 (3) orders of magnitude above (below) 1 eV 2 . NOvA finds no evidence for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations under the 3 + 1 model at 90% confidence level. New limits are reported in multiple regions of parameter space, excluding some regions currently allowed by IceCube at 90% confidence level. We additionally set the most stringent limits for anomalous ν τ appearance for Δ m 41 2 3 eV 2 . Published by the American Physical Society2025  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2310154 2411700
PAR ID:
10588186
Author(s) / Creator(s):
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Corporate Creator(s):
Publisher / Repository:
American Physical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Volume:
134
Issue:
8
ISSN:
0031-9007
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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