NSF PAR Search | NSF Public Access Repository

This Letter presents the result of a

3 + 1

sterile neutrino search using 10.7 yr of IceCube data. We analyze atmospheric muon neutrinos that traverse the Earth with energies ranging from 0.5 to 100 TeV, incorporating significant improvements in modeling neutrino flux and detector response compared to earlier studies. Notably, for the first time, we categorize data into starting and throughgoing events, distinguishing neutrino interactions with vertices inside or outside the instrumented volume, to improve energy resolution. The best-fit point for a

3 + 1

model is found to be at

\sin^{2} (2 θ_{24}) = 0.16

and

Δ m_{41}^{2} = 3.5 {eV}^{2}

, which agrees with previous iterations of this Letter. The result is consistent with the null hypothesis of no sterile neutrinos with a

p

value of 3.1%. Published by the American Physical Society2024

Methods and stability tests associated with the sterile neutrino search using improved high-energy

ν_{μ}

event reconstruction in IceCube

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.092009

Abbasi, R; Ackermann, M; Adams, J; Agarwalla, S K; Aguilar, J A; Ahlers, M; Alameddine, J M; Amin, N M; Andeen, K; Argüelles, C; et al (November 2024, Physical Review D)

We provide supporting details for the search for a

3 + 1

sterile neutrino using data collected over 10.7 years at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The analysis uses atmospheric muon-flavored neutrinos from 0.5 to 100 TeV that traverse Earth to reach the IceCube detector and finds a best-fit point at

\sin^{2} (2 θ_{24}) = 0.16

and

Δ m_{41}^{2} = 3.5 {eV}^{2}

with a goodness-of-fit p value of 12% and consistency with the null hypothesis of no oscillations to sterile neutrinos with a p value of 3.1%. Several improvements were made over past analyses, which are reviewed in this article, including upgrades to the reconstruction and the study of sources of systematic uncertainty. We provide details of the fit quality and discuss stability tests that split the data for separate samples, comparing results. We find that the fits are consistent between split datasets. Published by the American Physical Society2024

Full Text Available

Search for: All records