An eV-scale sterile neutrino search using eight years of atmospheric muon neutrino data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Abstract

The results of a 3+1 sterile neutrino search using eight years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory are presented. A total of 305,735 muon neutrino events are analyzed in reconstructed energy-zenith space to test for signatures of a matter-enhanced oscillation that would occur given a sterile neutrino state with a mass-squared differences between 0.01\,eV${}^2$ and 100\,eV${}^2$. The best-fit point is found to be at ${\sin }^2(2\hat{I}{¸}_{24})=0.10$ and $\hat{I}”m_{41}^2=4.5{\mathrm{eV}}^2$, which is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a p-value of 8.0\%.

11 pages, 5 figures. This letter is supported by the long-form paper "Searching for eV-scale sterile neutrinos with eight years of atmospheric neutrinos at the IceCube neutrino telescope," also appearing on arXiv. Digital data release available at: https://github.com/icecube/HE-Sterile-8year-data-release