On the robustness of IceCube's bound on sterile neutrinos in the presence of non-standard interactions

Abstract

The mixing parameters of sterile neutrino(s) preferred by the MiniBooNE and LNSD experiments are in strong tension with the exclusion limit from the IceCube experiment. Recently it has been claimed that by considering the non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) in addition to the sterile neutrino, the IceCube's limit can be relaxed and the tension can be reconciled; a baroque scenario as it has been called. We will show that this claim is just an artifact originating from the energy cuts of the chosen datasets. Contrary to the claim, by turning on the NSI and fixing the NSI parameters to the proposed values, not only the IceCube's limit on sterile neutrino cannot be alleviated, but in fact the tension will be aggravated. The reconciliation, more appropriately, can be called surreal.

15 pages, 4 figures; v2: a few clarifications have been added

References in corpus (10)

• Updated fit to three neutrino mixing: exploring the accelerator-reactor complementarity
• Calculation of atmospheric neutrino flux using the interaction model calibrated with atmospheric muon data
• Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube
• Determining neutrino oscillation parameters from atmospheric muon neutrino disappearance with three years of IceCube DeepCore data
• Signature of sterile species in atmospheric neutrino data at neutrino telescopes
• Searching for sterile neutrinos in ice
• Non-standard interactions with high-energy atmospheric neutrinos at IceCube
• Searches for sterile neutrinos with IceCube DeepCore
• MiniBooNE, MINOS+ and IceCube data imply a baroque neutrino sector
• On the IceCube Result on ${\bar{\nu }}_{\mu }\to {\bar{\nu }}_s$ Oscillations

Cited by in corpus (17)

• The Present and Future Status of Heavy Neutral Leptons
• Status of Light Sterile Neutrino Searches
• Neutrino Non-Standard Interactions: A Status Report
• Where Are We With Light Sterile Neutrinos?
• Heavy Neutral Leptons from low-scale seesaws at the DUNE Near Detector
• White Paper on New Opportunities at the Next-Generation Neutrino Experiments (Part 1: BSM Neutrino Physics and Dark Matter)
• Dark Neutrinos and a Three Portal Connection to the Standard Model
• $Z^{\prime }$s in neutrino scattering at DUNE
• Activating the 4th Neutrino of the 3+1 Scheme
• Strong constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions: LHC vs. IceCube
• $B-L$ model with $A_4\times Z_3\times Z_4$ symmetry for $3+1$ active$-$sterile neutrino mixing
• Revisiting constraints on 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing using IceCube data
• Implications of the Dark LMA solution and Fourth Sterile Neutrino for Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay
• Constraints on neutrino non-standard interactions from LHC data with large missing transverse momentum
• Toward diagnosing neutrino non-unitarity through CP phase correlations
• Violation of Equivalence Principle in Neutrino Sector: Probing the Extended Parameter Space
• Closing the Neutrino "BSM Gap": Physics Potential of Atmospheric Through-Going Muons at DUNE