Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

de Wasseige, Gwenhaël;(IceCube Collaboration)*;IceCube;et.al.
(2022) Physical Review Letters — Vol. 129 (2022)

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Abstract
We present a search for an unstable sterile neutrino by looking for a resonant signal in eight years of atmospheric <math display="inline"><msub><mi>ν</mi><mi>μ</mi></msub></math> data collected from 2011 to 2019 at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Both the (stable) three-neutrino and the <math display="inline"><mrow><mn>3</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></math> sterile neutrino models are disfavored relative to the unstable sterile neutrino model, though with <math display="inline"><mi>p</mi></math> values of 2.8% and 0.81%, respectively, we do not observe evidence for <math display="inline"><mrow><mn>3</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></math> neutrinos with neutrino decay. The best-fit parameters for the sterile neutrino with decay model from this study are <math display="inline"><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mi><msubsup><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>41</mn></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo>=</mo><mn>6.</mn><msubsup><mrow><mn>7</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn>2.5</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>3.9</mn></mrow></msubsup><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mrow><mi>eV</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>, <math display="inline"><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>sin</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup><mn>2</mn><msub><mrow><mi>θ</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>24</mn></mrow></msub><mo>=</mo><mn>0.3</mn><msubsup><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn>0.17</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>0.20</mn></mrow></msubsup></mrow></math>, and <math display="inline"><msup><mi>g</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>=</mo><mn>2.5</mn><mi>π</mi><mo>±</mo><mn>1.5</mn><mi>π</mi></math>, where <math display="inline"><mi>g</mi></math> is the decay-mediating coupling. The preferred regions of the <math display="inline"><mrow><mn>3</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>+</mo><mtext>decay</mtext></mrow></math> model from short-baseline oscillation searches are excluded at 90% C.L.
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de Wasseige, G., (IceCube Collaboration)*, IceCube, & et al. (2022). Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Physical Review Letters, 129. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.151801 (Original work published 2022)