Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Sterile Neutrinos and Dark Radiation, Status and Perspectives

The presence of light sterile neutrinos is one of the unanswered questions of particle physics. The cosmological counterpart is represented by dark radiation, i.e., any form of radiation present in the early Universe besides photons and standard (active) neutrinos. This short review provides a comprehensive overview of the two problems and of their connection. We review the status of neutrino oscillation anomalies, commenting on the most recent oscillation data and their mutual tensions, and we discuss the constraints from other terrestrial probes. We show the shortcomings of translating light sterile neutrinos in cosmology as additional thermalised relativistic species, produced by neutrino oscillations, and we detail alternative solutions, specifically focusing on neutrino nonstandard interactions, and on their link to the Hubble constant problem. The impact of a new force leading to dark radiation–dark matter interactions is also discussed in the realm of new physics in the dark sector.

Chirality and the Origin of Life

The origin of life, based on the homochirality of biomolecules, is a persistent mystery. Did life begin by using both forms of chirality, and then one of the forms disappeared? Or did the choice of homochirality precede the formation of biomolecules that could ensure replication and information transfer? Is the natural choice of L-amino acids and D-sugars on which life is based deterministic or random? Is the handedness present in/of the Universe from its beginning? The whole biosystem on the Earth, all living creatures are chiral. Many theories try to explain the origin of life and chirality on the Earth: e.g., the panspermia hypothesis, the primordial soup hypothesis, theory of parity violation in weak interactions. Additionally, heavy neutrinos and the impact of the fact that only left-handed particles decay, and even dark matter, all have to be considered.

Search for Active-Sterile Antineutrino Mixing Using Neutral-Current Interactions with the NOvA Experiment

This Letter reports results from the first long-baseline search for sterile antineutrinos mixing in an accelerator-based antineutrino-dominated beam. The rate of neutral-current interactions in the two NOvA detectors, at distances of 1 and 810 km from the beam source, is analyzed using an exposure of 12.51×10^{20} protons-on-target from the NuMI beam at Fermilab running in antineutrino mode. A total of 121 of neutral-current candidates are observed at the far detector, compared to a prediction of 122±11(stat.)±15(syst.) assuming mixing only between three active flavors. No evidence for ν[over ¯]_{μ}→ν[over ¯]_{s} oscillation is observed. Interpreting this result within a 3+1 model, constraints are placed on the mixing angles θ_{24}<25° and θ_{34}<32° at the 90% C.L. for 0.05  eV^{2}≤Δm_{41}^{2}≤0.5  eV^{2}, the range of mass splittings that produces no significant oscillations at the near detector. These are the first 3+1 confidence limits set using long-baseline accelerator antineutrinos.

eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Search Using Eight Years of Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

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 and 100  eV^{2}. The best-fit point is found to be at sin^{2}(2θ_{24})=0.10 and Δm_{41}^{2}=4.5  eV^{2}, which is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a p value of 8.0%.

Exploring Light Sterile Neutrinos at Long Baseline Experiments: A Review

Several anomalies observed in short-baseline neutrino experiments suggest the existence of new light sterile neutrino species. In this review, we describe the potential role of long-baseline experiments in the searches of sterile neutrino properties and, in particular, the new CP-violation phases that appear in the enlarged 3 + 1 scheme. We also assess the impact of light sterile states on the discovery potential of long-baseline experiments of important targets such as the standard 3-flavor CP violation, the neutrino mass hierarchy, and the octant of θ 23 .

IceCube Sterile Neutrino Searches

Anomalies in short baseline experiments have been interpreted as evidence for additional neutrino mass states with large mass splittings from the known, active flavors. This explanation mandates a corresponding signature in the muon neutrino disappearance channel, which has yet to be observed. Searches for muon neutrino disappearance at the IceCube neutrino telescope presently provide the strongest limits in the space of mixing angles for eVscale sterile neutrinos. This proceeding for the Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescopes (VLVnT) Workshop summarizes the IceCube analyses that have searched for sterile neutrinos and describes ongoing work toward enhanced, high-statistics sterile neutrino searches.

The Sterile Neutrino: A short introduction

This is a pedagogical introduction to the main concepts of the sterile neutrino - a hypothetical particle, coined to resolve some anomalies in neutrino data and retain consistency with observed widths of the W and Z bosons. We briefly review existing anomalies and the oscillation parameters that best describe these data. We discuss in more detail how sterile neutrinos can be observed, as well as the consequences of its possible existence. In particular, we pay attention to a possible loss of coherence in a model of neutrino oscillations with sterile neutrinos, where this effect might be of a major importance with respect to the 3ν model. The current status of searches for a sterile neutrino state is also briefly reviewed.

Search for Sterile Neutrinos in MINOS and MINOS+ Using a Two-Detector Fit

A search for mixing between active neutrinos and light sterile neutrinos has been performed by looking for muon neutrino disappearance in two detectors at baselines of 1.04 and 735 km, using a combined MINOS and MINOS+ exposure of 16.36×10^{20} protons on target. A simultaneous fit to the charged-current muon neutrino and neutral-current neutrino energy spectra in the two detectors yields no evidence for sterile neutrino mixing using a 3+1 model. The most stringent limit to date is set on the mixing parameter sin^{2}θ_{24} for most values of the sterile neutrino mass splitting Δm_{41}^{2}>10^{-4}  eV^{2}.

Physics with reactor neutrinos

Neutrinos produced by nuclear reactors have played a major role in advancing our knowledge of the properties of neutrinos. The first direct detection of the neutrino, confirming its existence, was performed using reactor neutrinos. More recent experiments utilizing reactor neutrinos have also found clear evidence for neutrino oscillation, providing unique input for the determination of neutrino mass and mixing. Ongoing and future reactor neutrino experiments will explore other important issues, including the neutrino mass hierarchy and the search for sterile neutrinos and other new physics beyond the standard model. In this article, we review the recent progress in physics using reactor neutrinos and the opportunities they offer for future discoveries.

Severe Constraints on New Physics Explanations of the MiniBooNE Excess

The MiniBooNE experiment has recently reported an anomalous 4.5σ excess of electronlike events consistent with ν_{e} appearance from a ν_{μ} beam at short baseline. Given the lack of corresponding ν_{μ} disappearance observations, required in the case of oscillations involving a sterile flavor, there is strong motivation for alternative explanations of this anomaly. We consider the possibility that the observed electronlike signal may actually be initiated by particles produced in the MiniBooNE target, without involving new sources of neutrino production or any neutrino oscillations. We find that the electronlike event energy and angular distributions in the full MiniBooNE dataset, including neutrino, antineutrino, and beam dump modes, severely limit and, in some cases, rule out new physics scenarios as an explanation for the observed neutrino and antineutrino mode excesses. Specifically, scenarios in which the particle produced in the target either decays (visibly or semivisibly) or scatters elastically in the detector are strongly disfavored. Using generic kinematic arguments, we extend the existing MiniBooNE results and interpretations to exhaustively constrain previously unconsidered new physics signatures and emphasize the power of the MiniBooNE beam dump search to further limit models for the excess.

The ICARUS experiment

The 760 ton liquid argon ICARUS T600 detector performed a successful threeyear physics run at the underground LNGS laboratories, studying neutrino oscillations with the CNGS neutrino beam and searching for atmospheric neutrino interactions in cosmic rays. A sensitive search for LSND like anomalous ve appearance has been performed, contributing to constrain the allowed parameters to a narrow region around Δm2 ~ eV2, where all the experimental results can be coherently accommodated at 90% C.L.. After a significant overhauling, the T600 detector will be exposed at Fermilab to the Booster Neutrino Beam acting as the far detector, in order to search for sterile neutrino within the SBN program. In the present contribution, the ICARUS LNGS achievements, the present status of the detector and the ongoing analyses also finalized to the next physics run at Fermilab will be addressed.

The new front end and DAQ of the ICARUS detector

ICARUS is the largest imaging LAr TPC ever operated. During its LNGS run on the CNGS neutrino beam, from 2010 to 2013, produced some thousands neutrino events of unprecedented quality. This was possible thanks its mechanical precision and stability, liquid argon purity and electronics front-end and DAQ. Actually ICARUS T600, in view of its operation at FNAL on the SBN neutrino beam, is undergoing a major overhauling that implies cathode mechanics improvement, additional PMTs installation and a new electronics front-end and DAQ. This electronics implements a new architecture, integrated onto the flange proprietary design, and a new front-end that improves S/N and induction signals treatment. This issue will be presented in detail together with data recently recorder at CERN in the FLIC, 50 litres, LAr facility.

Fuzzy Dark Matter from Infrared Confining Dynamics

A very light boson of mass O(10^{-22})  eV may potentially be a viable dark matter (DM) candidate, which can avoid phenomenological problems associated with cold DM. Such "fuzzy DM (FDM)" may naturally be an axion with a decay constant f_{a}∼10^{16}-10^{18}  GeV and a mass m_{a}∼μ^{2}/f_{a} with μ∼10^{2}  eV. Here, we propose a concrete model, where μ arises as a dynamical scale from infrared confining dynamics, analogous to QCD. Our model is an alternative to the usual approach of generating μ through string theoretic instanton effects. We outline the features of this scenario that result from various cosmological constraints. We find that those constraints are suggestive of a period of mild of inflation, perhaps from a strong first order phase transition, that reheats the standard model (SM) sector only. A typical prediction of our scenario, broadly speaking, is a larger effective number of neutrinos compared to the SM value N_{eff}≈3, as inferred from precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background. Some of the new degrees of freedom may be identified as "sterile neutrinos," which may be required to explain certain neutrino oscillation anomalies. Hence, aspects of our scenario could be testable in terrestrial experiments, which is a novelty of our FDM model.

Sterile Neutrino Search at the NEOS Experiment

An experiment to search for light sterile neutrinos is conducted at a reactor with a thermal power of 2.8 GW located at the Hanbit nuclear power complex. The search is done with a detector consisting of a ton of Gd-loaded liquid scintillator in a tendon gallery approximately 24 m from the reactor core. The measured antineutrino event rate is 1976 per day with a signal to background ratio of about 22. The shape of the antineutrino energy spectrum obtained from the eight-month data-taking period is compared with a hypothesis of oscillations due to active-sterile antineutrino mixing. No strong evidence of 3+1 neutrino oscillation is found. An excess around the 5 MeV prompt energy range is observed as seen in existing longer-baseline experiments. The mixing parameter sin^{2}2θ_{14} is limited up to less than 0.1 for Δm_{41}^{2} ranging from 0.2 to 2.3 eV^{2} with a 90% confidence level.

Octant of θ_{23} in Danger with a Light Sterile Neutrino

Present global fits of world neutrino data hint towards nonmaximal θ_{23} with two nearly degenerate solutions, one in the lower octant (θ_{23}<π/4), and the other in the higher octant (θ_{23}>π/4). This octant ambiguity of θ_{23} is one of the fundamental issues in the neutrino sector, and its resolution is a crucial goal of next-generation long-baseline (LBL) experiments. In this Letter, we address, for the first time, the impact of a light eV-scale sterile neutrino towards such a measurement, taking the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment as a case study. In the so-called 3+1 scheme involving three active and one sterile neutrinos, the ν_{μ}→ν_{e} transition probability probed in the LBL experiments acquires a new interference term via active-sterile oscillations. We find that this interference term can mimic a swap of the θ_{23} octant, even if one uses the information from both neutrino and antineutrino channels. As a consequence, the sensitivity to the octant of θ_{23} can be completely lost, and this may have serious implications for our understanding of neutrinos from both the experimental and theoretical perspectives.

First Constraints on the Complete Neutrino Mixing Matrix with a Sterile Neutrino

Neutrino oscillation models involving one extra mass eigenstate beyond the standard three (3+1) are fit to global short baseline experimental data and the recent IceCube ν_{μ}+ν[over ¯]_{μ} disappearance search result. We find a best fit of Δm_{41}^{2}=1.75  eV^{2} with Δχ_{null-min}^{2}/d.o.f. of 50.61/4. We find that the combined IceCube and short baseline data constrain θ_{34} to <80°(<6°) at 90% C.L. for Δm_{41}^{2}≈2(6)  eV^{2}, which is improved over present limits. Incorporating the IceCube information provides the first constraints on all entries of the 3+1 mixing matrix.

Limits on Active to Sterile Neutrino Oscillations from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, Daya Bay, and Bugey-3 Experiments

Searches for a light sterile neutrino have been performed independently by the MINOS and the Daya Bay experiments using the muon (anti)neutrino and electron antineutrino disappearance channels, respectively. In this Letter, results from both experiments are combined with those from the Bugey-3 reactor neutrino experiment to constrain oscillations into light sterile neutrinos. The three experiments are sensitive to complementary regions of parameter space, enabling the combined analysis to probe regions allowed by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE experiments in a minimally extended four-neutrino flavor framework. Stringent limits on sin^{2}2θ_{μe} are set over 6 orders of magnitude in the sterile mass-squared splitting Δm_{41}^{2}. The sterile-neutrino mixing phase space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments is excluded for Δm_{41}^{2}<0.8  eV^{2} at 95%  CL_{s}.

Search for Sterile Neutrinos Mixing with Muon Neutrinos in MINOS

We report results of a search for oscillations involving a light sterile neutrino over distances of 1.04 and 735 km in a ν_{μ}-dominated beam with a peak energy of 3 GeV. The data, from an exposure of 10.56×10^{20} protons on target, are analyzed using a phenomenological model with one sterile neutrino. We constrain the mixing parameters θ_{24} and Δm_{41}^{2} and set limits on parameters of the four-dimensional Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix, |U_{μ4}|^{2} and |U_{τ4}|^{2}, under the assumption that mixing between ν_{e} and ν_{s} is negligible (|U_{e4}|^{2}=0). No evidence for ν_{μ}→ν_{s} transitions is found and we set a world-leading limit on θ_{24} for values of Δm_{41}^{2}≲1  eV^{2}.

Impact of Nonstandard Interactions on Sterile-Neutrino Searches at IceCube

We analyze the energy and zenith angle distributions of the latest two-year IceCube data set of upward-going atmospheric neutrinos to constrain sterile neutrinos at the eV scale in the 3+1 scenario. We find that the parameters favored by a combination of LSND and MiniBooNE data are excluded at more than the 99% C.L. We explore the impact of nonstandard matter interactions on this exclusion and find that the exclusion holds for nonstandard interactions (NSIs) that are within the stringent model-dependent bounds set by collider and neutrino scattering experiments. However, for large NSI parameters subject only to model-independent bounds from neutrino oscillation experiments, the LSND and MiniBooNE data are consistent with IceCube.