Exploration of mass splitting and muon/tau mixing parameters for an eV-scale sterile neutrino with IceCube
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.
Authors
- Sanjib Kumar Agarwalla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9714-8866)
- S. Athanasiadou
- N.M. Amin
- M. Ackermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8952-588X)
- E. Bourbeau
- Jean-Marco Alameddine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9534-9189)
- M. Ahlers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0709-5631)
- D. J. Koskinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0514-5917)
- L. Ausborm
- J. A. Aguilar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2252-9514)
- A. Søgaard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0823-056X)
- K. Andeen
- R. Abbasi
- J. Adams
Institutions
- Institute of Particle Physics (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physics Letters B
- Published
- 2024-10-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2024.139077
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.66
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Nvidia
- Harvard University
- Michigan State University
- Villum Fonden
- Polarforskningssekretariatet
- Marquette University
- Western Canada Research Grid
- European Commission
- National Research Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
- Vetenskapsrådet
- RWTH Aachen University
- Chiba University
- Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics
- Alliance de recherche numérique du Canada
- College of Engineering, Michigan State University
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Marsden Fund
- Institute for Global Prominent Research, Chiba University
- Office of Polar Programs
- Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure
- Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research