Scientific article
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Exploration of mass splitting and muon/tau mixing parameters for an eV-scale sterile neutrino with IceCube

ContributorsIceCube Collaboration
Published inPhysics letters. B, vol. 858, 139077
Publication date2024
Abstract

We present the first three-parameter fit to a 3+1 sterile neutrino model using 7.634 years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory on νμ+ν‾μ charged-current interactions in the energy range 500–9976 GeV. Our analysis is sensitive to the mass-squared splitting between the heaviest and lightest mass state (Δm412), the mixing matrix element connecting muon flavor to the fourth mass state (|Uμ4|2), and the element connecting tau flavor to the fourth mass state (|Uτ4|2). Predicted propagation effects in matter enhance the signature through a resonance as atmospheric neutrinos from the Northern Hemisphere traverse the Earth to the IceCube detector at the South Pole. The remaining sterile neutrino matrix elements are left fixed, with |Ue4|2=0 and δ14=0, as they have a negligible effect, and δ24=π is set to give the most conservative limits. The result is consistent with the no-sterile neutrino hypothesis with a probability of 4.3%. Profiling the likelihood of each parameter yields the 90% confidence levels: 2.4eV2<Δm412<9.6eV2, 0.0081<|Uμ4|2<0.10, and |Uτ4|2<0.035, which narrows the allowed parameter-space for |Uτ4|2. However, the primary result of this analysis is the first map of the 3+1 parameter space exploring the interdependence of Δm412, |Uμ4|2, and |Uτ4|2.

Keywords
  • Atmospheric neutrino IceCube TeV oscillation sterile
  • Neutrino: sterile
  • Neutrino: model
  • Neutrino: atmosphere
  • IceCube
  • Neutrino/mu
  • Neutrino/tau
  • Neutrino: mixing
  • Neutrino: flavor
  • Observatory
  • Splitting
  • Neutrino: oscillation
  • Neutrino: mixing angle
  • Neutrino: mass difference
  • Charged current
  • Propagation
  • Pole
  • Signature
  • Statistical analysis
  • Data analysis method
  • Experimental results
Citation (ISO format)
IceCube Collaboration. Exploration of mass splitting and muon/tau mixing parameters for an eV-scale sterile neutrino with IceCube. In: Physics letters. B, 2024, vol. 858, p. 139077. doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2024.139077
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0370-2693
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