Sterile Neutrino Fits to Short Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Measurements

Abstract

This paper reviews short baseline oscillation experiments as interpreted within the context of one, two, and three sterile neutrino models associated with additional neutrino mass states in the ~1 eV range. Appearance and disappearance signals and limits are considered. We show that fitting short baseline data sets to a (3+3) model, defined by three active and three sterile neutrinos, results in an overall goodness of fit of 67%, and a compatibility of 90% among all data sets -- to be compared to the compatibility of 0.043% and 13% for a (3+1) and a (3+2) model, respectively. While the (3+3) fit yields the highest quality overall, it still finds inconsistencies with the MiniBooNE appearance data sets; in particular, the global fit fails to account for the observed MiniBooNE low-energy excess. Given the overall improvement, we recommend using the results of (3+2) and (3+3) fits, rather than (3+1) fits, for future neutrino oscillation phenomenology. These results motivate the pursuit of further short baseline experiments, such as those reviewed in this paper.

Submitted to Advances in High Energy Physics Special Issue on Neutrino Physics

References in corpus (4)

• Light Sterile Neutrinos: A White Paper
• The minimal 3+2 neutrino model versus oscillation anomalies
• Confronting the short-baseline oscillation anomalies with a single sterile neutrino and non-standard matter effects
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Status of Neutrino Mass and Mixing
• Three sterile neutrinos in E6
• European Strategy for Accelerator-Based Neutrino Physics
• Neutrino electromagnetic interactions: a window to new physics
• Effect of cross-section models on the validity of sterile neutrino mixing limits
• Fitting theory to data in the presence of background uncertainties