Search for sterile neutrino mixing using three years of IceCube DeepCore data

We present a search for a light sterile neutrino using three years of atmospheric neutrino data from the DeepCore detector in the energy range of approximately 10–60 GeV. DeepCore is the low-energy subarray of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The standard three-neutrino paradigm can be probed by ad...

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Main Authors: Aartsen, M. G., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J. A., Ahlers, M., Ahrens, M., Al Samarai, I., Altmann, D., Andeen, K., Anderson, T., Ansseau, I., Anton, G., Archinger, M., Auffenberg, J., Bai, X., Barwick, S. W., Baum, V., Bay, R., Beatty, J. J., Becker Tjus, J., Becker, K.-H., BenZvi, S., Berley, D., Bernardini, E., Besson, D. Z., Binder, G., Bindig, D., Blaufuss, E., Blot, S., Bohm, C., Börner, M., Bos, F., Bose, D., Böser, S., Botner, O., Braun, J., Brayeur, L., Bretz, H.-P., Bron, S., Burgman, A., Carver, T., Casier, M., Cheung, E., Chirkin, D., Christov, A., Clark, K., Classen, L., Coenders, S., Cowen, D. F., Cross, R., Day, M., de André, J. P. A. M., De Clercq, C., del Pino Rosendo, E., Dembinski, H., De Ridder, S., Desiati, P., de Vries, K. D., de Wasseige, G., de With, M., DeYoung, T., Díaz-Vélez, J. C., di Lorenzo, V., Dujmovic, H., Dumm, J. P., Dunkman, M., Eberhardt, B., Ehrhardt, T., Eichmann, B., Eller, P., Euler, S., Evenson, P. A., Fahey, S., Fazely, A. R., Feintzeig, J., Felde, J., Filimonov, K., Finley, C., Flis, S., Fösig, C.-C., Franckowiak, A., Friedman, E., Fuchs, T., Gaisser, T. K., Gallagher, J., Gerhardt, L., Ghorbani, K., Giang, W., Gladstone, L., Glauch, T., Glüsenkamp, T., Goldschmidt, A., Gonzalez, J. G., Grant, D., Griffith, Z., Haack, C., Hallgren, A., Halzen, F., Hansen, E., Hansmann, T., Hanson, K., Hebecker, D., Heereman, D., Helbing, K., Hellauer, R., Hickford, S., Hignight, J., Hill, G. C., Hoffman, K. D., Hoffmann, R., Hoshina, K., Huang, F., Huber, M., Hultqvist, K., In, S., Ishihara, A., Jacobi, E., Japaridze, G. S., Jeong, M., Jero, K., Kang, W., Kappes, A., Karg, T., Karle, A., Katz, U., Kauer, M., Keivani, A., Kelley, J. L., Kheirandish, A., Kim, J., Kim, M., Kintscher, T., Kiryluk, J., Kittler, T., Klein, S. R., Kohnen, G., Koirala, R., Kolanoski, H., Konietz, R., Köpke, L., Kopper, C., Kopper, S., Koskinen, D. J., Kowalski, M., Krings, K., Kroll, M., Krückl, G., Krüger, C., Kunnen, J., Kunwar, S., Kurahashi, N., Kuwabara, T., Kyriacou, A., Labare, M., Lanfranchi, J. L., Larson, M. J., Lauber, F., Lennarz, D., Lesiak-Bzdak, M., Leuermann, M., Lu, L., Lünemann, J., Madsen, J., Maggi, G., Mahn, K. B. M., Mancina, S., Mandelartz, M., Maruyama, R., Mase, K., Maunu, R., McNally, F., Meagher, K., Medici, M., Meier, M., Menne, T., Merino, G., Meures, T., Miarecki, S., Micallef, J., Momenté, G., Montaruli, T., Nahnhauer, R., Naumann, U., Neer, G., Niederhausen, H., Nowicki, S. C., Nygren, D. R., Obertacke Pollmann, A., Olivas, A., O’Murchadha, A., Palczewski, T., Pandya, H., Pankova, D. V., Peiffer, P., Penek, Ö., Pepper, J. A., Pérez de los Heros, C., Pieloth, D., Pinat, E., Price, P. B., Przybylski, G. T., Quinnan, M., Raab, C., Rädel, L., Rameez, M., Rawlins, K., Reimann, R., Relethford, B., Relich, M., Resconi, E., Rhode, W., Richman, M., Riedel, B., Robertson, S., Rongen, M., Rott, C., Ruhe, T., Ryckbosch, D., Rysewyk, D., Sabbatini, L., Sanchez Herrera, S. E., Sandrock, A., Sandroos, J., Sarkar, S., Satalecka, K., Schlunder, P., Schmidt, T., Schoenen, S., Schöneberg, S., Schumacher, L., Seckel, D., Seunarine, S., Soldin, D., Song, M., Spiczak, G. M., Spiering, C., Stachurska, J., Stanev, T., Stasik, A., Stettner, J., Steuer, A., Stezelberger, T., Stokstad, R. G., Stößl, A., Ström, R., Strotjohann, N. L., Sullivan, G. W., Sutherland, M., Taavola, H., Taboada, I., Tatar, J., Tenholt, F., Ter-Antonyan, S., Terliuk, A., Tešić, G., Tilav, S., Toale, P. A., Tobin, M. N., Toscano, S., Tosi, D., Tselengidou, M., Tung, C. F., Turcati, A., Unger, E., Usner, M., Vandenbroucke, J., van Eijndhoven, N., Vanheule, S., van Rossem, M., van Santen, J., Vehring, M., Voge, M., Vogel, E., Vraeghe, M., Walck, C., Wallace, A., Wallraff, M., Wandkowsky, N., Waza, A., Weaver, Ch., Weiss, M. J., Wendt, C., Westerhoff, S., Whelan, B. J., Wickmann, S., Wiebe, K., Wiebusch, C. H., Wille, L., Williams, D. R., Wills, L., Wolf, M., Wood, T. R., Woolsey, E., Woschnagg, K., Xu, D. L., Xu, X. W., Xu, Y., Yanez, J. P., Yodh, G., Yoshida, S., Zoll, M., Arguelles Delgado, Carlos A, Axani, Spencer Nicholas, Collin, G. H., Conrad, Janet Marie, Jones, Benjamin James Poyner, Moulai, Marjon H.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109968
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8866-3826
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6393-0438
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6243-1453
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7909-5812
Description
Summary:We present a search for a light sterile neutrino using three years of atmospheric neutrino data from the DeepCore detector in the energy range of approximately 10–60 GeV. DeepCore is the low-energy subarray of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The standard three-neutrino paradigm can be probed by adding an additional light (Δm[subscript 41][superscript 2] ∼1  eV[superscript 2]) sterile neutrino. Sterile neutrinos do not interact through the standard weak interaction and, therefore, cannot be directly detected. However, their mixing with the three active neutrino states leaves an imprint on the standard atmospheric neutrino oscillations for energies below 100 GeV. A search for such mixing via muon neutrino disappearance is presented here. The data are found to be consistent with the standard three-neutrino hypothesis. Therefore, we derive limits on the mixing matrix elements at the level of |U[subscript μ4]|[superscript 2]<0.11 and |U[subscript τ4]|[superscript 2]<0.15 (90% C.L.) for the sterile neutrino mass splitting Δm[subscript 41][superscript 2]=1.0  eV[superscript 2].