Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector

Icecube Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801

Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector

Icecube Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

243 Scopus citations

Abstract

The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous νμ or νμ disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3+1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin22θ24≤0.02 at Δm2∼0.3 eV2 at the 90% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99% confidence level for the global best-fit value of |Ue4|2.

Original language	English
Article number	071801
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	117
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801
State	Published - Aug 8 2016
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We acknowledge support from the following agencies: U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation Physics Division, University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the Grid Laboratory of Wisconsin (GLOW) grid infrastructure at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the Open Science Grid (OSG) grid infrastructure, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (Loni) grid computing resources; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, WestGrid and Compute/Calcul Canada; Swedish Research Council, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Research Department of Plasmas with Complex Interactions (Bochum), Germany; Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS-FWO), FWO Odysseus program, Flanders Institute to encourage scientific and technological research in industry (IWT), Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo); University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Marsden Fund, New Zealand; Australian Research Council; Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS); the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switzerland; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); and Villum Fonden, Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), Denmark.

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801

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@article{f2b8fcb159594ae5aa31e80a60988422,

title = "Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector",

abstract = "The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous νμ or νμ disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3+1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin22θ24≤0.02 at Δm2∼0.3 eV2 at the 90\% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99\% confidence level for the global best-fit value of |Ue4|2.",

author = "\{Icecube Collaboration\} and Aartsen, \{M. G.\} and K. Abraham and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and Aguilar, \{J. A.\} and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and D. Altmann and K. Andeen and T. Anderson and I. Ansseau and G. Anton and M. Archinger and C. Arg{\"u}elles and Arlen, \{T. C.\} and J. Auffenberg and S. Axani and X. Bai and Barwick, \{S. W.\} and V. Baum and R. Bay and Beatty, \{J. J.\} and \{Becker Tjus\}, J. and Becker, \{K. H.\} and S. Benzvi and P. Berghaus and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and A. Bernhard and Besson, \{D. Z.\} and G. Binder and D. Bindig and E. Blaufuss and S. Blot and Boersma, \{D. J.\} and C. Bohm and M. B{\"o}rner and F. Bos and D. Bose and S. B{\"o}ser and O. Botner and J. Braun and L. Brayeur and Bretz, \{H. P.\} and A. Burgman and J. Casey and M. Casier and E. Cheung and D. Chirkin and J. Daughhetee",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 American Physical Society.",

year = "2016",

month = aug,

day = "8",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801",

language = "English",

volume = "117",

journal = "Physical Review Letters",

issn = "0031-9007",

publisher = "American Physical Society",

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T1 - Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector

AU - Icecube Collaboration

AU - Aartsen, M. G.

AU - Abraham, K.

AU - Ackermann, M.

AU - Adams, J.

AU - Aguilar, J. A.

AU - Ahlers, M.

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Altmann, D.

AU - Andeen, K.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Ansseau, I.

AU - Anton, G.

AU - Archinger, M.

AU - Argüelles, C.

AU - Arlen, T. C.

AU - Auffenberg, J.

AU - Axani, S.

AU - Bai, X.

AU - Barwick, S. W.

AU - Baum, V.

AU - Bay, R.

AU - Beatty, J. J.

AU - Becker Tjus, J.

AU - Becker, K. H.

AU - Benzvi, S.

AU - Berghaus, P.

AU - Berley, D.

AU - Bernardini, E.

AU - Bernhard, A.

AU - Besson, D. Z.

AU - Binder, G.

AU - Bindig, D.

AU - Blaufuss, E.

AU - Blot, S.

AU - Boersma, D. J.

AU - Bohm, C.

AU - Börner, M.

AU - Bos, F.

AU - Bose, D.

AU - Böser, S.

AU - Botner, O.

AU - Braun, J.

AU - Brayeur, L.

AU - Bretz, H. P.

AU - Burgman, A.

AU - Casey, J.

AU - Casier, M.

AU - Cheung, E.

AU - Chirkin, D.

AU - Daughhetee, J.

PY - 2016/8/8

Y1 - 2016/8/8

N2 - The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous νμ or νμ disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3+1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin22θ24≤0.02 at Δm2∼0.3 eV2 at the 90% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99% confidence level for the global best-fit value of |Ue4|2.

AB - The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous νμ or νμ disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3+1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin22θ24≤0.02 at Δm2∼0.3 eV2 at the 90% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99% confidence level for the global best-fit value of |Ue4|2.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84983490279

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.071801

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84983490279

SN - 0031-9007

VL - 117

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

IS - 7

M1 - 071801

ER -

Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector

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