Search for light sterile neutrinos with two neutrino beams at MicroBooNE

The existence of three distinct neutrino flavours, ν<sub>e</sub>, ν<sub>μ</sub> and ν<sub>τ</sub>, is a central tenet of the Standard Model of particle physics<sup>1,2</sup>. Quantum-mechanical interference can allow a neutrino of one initial flavour to be detected sometime later as a different flavour, a process called neutrino oscillation. Several anomalous observations inconsistent with this three-flavour picture have motivated the hypothesis that an additional neutrino state exists, which does not interact directly with matter, termed as 'sterile' neutrino, ν<sub>s</sub> (refs. <sup>3-9</sup>). This includes anomalous observations from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND)<sup>3</sup> experiment and Mini-Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE)<sup>4,5</sup>, consistent with ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> transitions at a distance inconsistent with the three-neutrino picture. Here we use data obtained from the MicroBooNE liquid-argon time projection chamber<sup>10</sup> in two accelerator neutrino beams to exclude the single light sterile neutrino interpretation of the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies at the 95% confidence level (CL). Moreover, we rule out a notable portion of the parameter space that could explain the gallium anomaly<sup>6-8</sup>. This is one of the first measurements to use two accelerator neutrino beams to break a degeneracy between ν<sub>e</sub> appearance and disappearance, which would otherwise weaken the sensitivity to the sterile neutrino hypothesis. We find no evidence for either ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> flavour transitions or ν<sub>e</sub> disappearance that would indicate non-standard flavour oscillations. Our results indicate that previous anomalous observations consistent with ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> transitions cannot be explained by introducing a single sterile neutrino state.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Nature
Published
2025-12-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09757-7
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Neutrino Physics Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.74

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Search for light sterile neutrinos with two neutrino beams at MicroBooNE

S. Balasubramanian, N. Pallat, G. Karagiorgi, W. C. Louis et al.
2 citations
Nature
Neutrino Physics Research
3.74
article

Search for light sterile neutrinos with two neutrino beams at MicroBooNE

S. Balasubramanian, N. Pallat, G. Karagiorgi, W. C. Louis, K. Pletcher, F. Gao, C. James, W. Ketchum, A. M. Szelc, J. J. Evans, A. P. Furmanski, M. H. Shaevitz, J. Spitz, J. Rodriguez Rondon, A. Bhat, S. Gollapinni, M. Reggiani-Guzzo, L. Hagaman, E. Piasetzky, D. Torbunov, S. R. Dennis, C. Hilgenberg, A. Mastbaum, K. Duffy, T. Kobilarcik, L. Camilleri, J.E. Bateman, E. Yandel, F. Cavanna, P. Abratenko, N. Nayak, J. M. Conrad, T. Mohayai, J. St. John, Ryan Cross, S. Mulleriababu, K. Lin, D. Totani, N. Oza, D. Marsden, P. Englezos, D. Kalra, V. Paolone, Hairong Wei, P. M. Watkins, A. Chappell, L. Mora Lepin, J. I. Crespo-Anadón, B. Bogart, J. Barrow, M. Uchida, E. Gramellini, K. Wresilo, Z. Djurcic, C. Zhang, P. Detje, A. F. Moor, A. Blake, H. B. Parkinson, N. Taniuchi, D. Franco, M. Ross-Lonergan, L. E. Yates, S. Dytman, G. Ge, K. Terao, S. Gardiner, C. Thorpe, M. Stancari, Y. Chen, C. D. Moore, D. W. Schmitz, Y. Li, Tariq Mahmud, T. Wongjirad, A. J. White, I. Pophale, V. Papavassiliou, L. M. Gu, T. Strauss, M. Söderberg, M. Kirby, John E. Tyler, O. Hen, G. A. Horton-Smith, M. Rosenberg, A. Rafique, P. Guzowski, A. Ashkenazi, Z. Pavlovic, R. A. Johnson, L. Cooper-Troendle, A. Papadopoulou, D. Caratelli, D. Naples, V. Basque, O. Benevides Rodrigues, A. Trettin, B. Irwin, J. Nowak, D. Barrow, W. Seligman, I. Mawby, Chaogang Fang, A. Schukraft, S. Balasubramanian, W. Gu, M. Bhattacharya, R. Guenette, G. Zeller, C. Nguyen, M. Bishai, D. Garcia-Gamez, A. Ereditato, R. Sharankova, L. Mellet, B. T. Fleming, Luciano Arellano, J. Micallef, Y. J. Jwa, O. Palamara, M. Toups, R. Diurba, J.-Y. Li, A. Navrer-Agasson, M. M. Moudgalya, J. Y. Shi, X. Qian, Michael A. Mooney, Sergey Martynenko, P. Green, T. Yang, S. F. Pate, W. Foreman, A. Hussain, S. Söldner‐Rembold, W. Wu, T. Bolton, H. W. Yu, Joseph Zennamo, B. Viren, N. Patel, L. Liu, M. R. Convery, N. Lorenzo Martinez, M. B. Brunetti, G. Cerati, B. R. Littlejohn, I. Safa, X. Luo, J. L. Raaf, X. Ji, J. Asaadi, J. Y. Shi, J. H. Jo, S. Berkman, J. Marshall, M. Nebot-Guinot, D. A. Martinez Caicedo, G. Barr, Y.-T. Tsai, M. Weber, X. Luo, D. Andrade Aldana, B. Eberly, V. Radeka, N. McConkey, M. S. Ismail, A. Barnard, N. Lane, Jesus Eduardo Munoz Mendez, A. Mogan, S. Wolbers, H. Greenlee, Tracy Usher, M. D. Handley
article en
2 citations

Abstract

The existence of three distinct neutrino flavours, ν<sub>e</sub>, ν<sub>μ</sub> and ν<sub>τ</sub>, is a central tenet of the Standard Model of particle physics<sup>1,2</sup>. Quantum-mechanical interference can allow a neutrino of one initial flavour to be detected sometime later as a different flavour, a process called neutrino oscillation. Several anomalous observations inconsistent with this three-flavour picture have motivated the hypothesis that an additional neutrino state exists, which does not interact directly with matter, termed as 'sterile' neutrino, ν<sub>s</sub> (refs. <sup>3-9</sup>). This includes anomalous observations from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND)<sup>3</sup> experiment and Mini-Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE)<sup>4,5</sup>, consistent with ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> transitions at a distance inconsistent with the three-neutrino picture. Here we use data obtained from the MicroBooNE liquid-argon time projection chamber<sup>10</sup> in two accelerator neutrino beams to exclude the single light sterile neutrino interpretation of the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies at the 95% confidence level (CL). Moreover, we rule out a notable portion of the parameter space that could explain the gallium anomaly<sup>6-8</sup>. This is one of the first measurements to use two accelerator neutrino beams to break a degeneracy between ν<sub>e</sub> appearance and disappearance, which would otherwise weaken the sensitivity to the sterile neutrino hypothesis. We find no evidence for either ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> flavour transitions or ν<sub>e</sub> disappearance that would indicate non-standard flavour oscillations. Our results indicate that previous anomalous observations consistent with ν<sub>μ</sub> → ν<sub>e</sub> transitions cannot be explained by introducing a single sterile neutrino state.

NatureVol. 648(8092)
New Mexico State University (US), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), University of Bern (CH), Louisiana State University (US), Tufts University (US), Argonne National Laboratory (US), University of Minnesota (US), IIT Research Institute (US), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US), Los Alamos National Laboratory (US), University of Kansas (US), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), Tel Aviv University (IL), Queen Mary University of London (GB), University of Pittsburgh (US), Universidad de Granada (ES), Illinois Institute of Technology (US), South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (US), The University of Texas at Arlington (US), Kansas State University (US), Brookhaven National Laboratory (US), Nankai University (CN), University of Cambridge (GB), University of Michigan (US), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US), University of Manchester (GB), University of Warwick (GB), University of Oxford (GB), University of Chicago (US), Indiana University Bloomington (US), Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (ES), Imperial College London (GB), UK Astronomy Technology Centre (GB), University of Cincinnati (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Lancaster University (GB), Syracuse University (US), University of Southern Maine (US), Columbia University (US), Virginia Tech (US), Michigan State University (US), Colorado State University (US), University of Edinburgh (GB)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, UK Research and Innovation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Office of Science, Science and Technology Facilities Council, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Fermilab
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Neutrino Physics Research
3.74
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.