Search for an eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Using Improved High-Energy <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>ν</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>μ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math> Event Reconstruction in IceCube
R. Abbasi, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, Sanjib Kumar Agarwalla, J. A. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, Jean-Marco Alameddine, N. M. Amin, K. Andeen, C. Argüelles, Yosuke Ashida, S. Athanasiadou, L. Ausborm, Spencer Axani, X. Bai, Aswathi Balagopal, M. Baricevic, S. W. Barwick, Simeon Bash, V. Basu, R. Bay, J. J. Beatty, J. Becker Tjus, J. Beise, C. Bellenghi, Charlotte Benning, S. BenZvi, D. Berley, E. Bernardini, D. Z. Besson, E. Blaufuss, Linda B. Bloom, Summer Blot, F. Bontempo, Julia Book, Caterina Boscolo Meneguolo, S. Böser, O. Botner, J. Böttcher, J. Braun, Bennett Brinson, J. Brostean-Kaiser, Livia Brusa, Ryan T. Burley, Delaney Butterfield, Michael Campana, I. Caracas, K. Carloni, J. Graciá‐Carpio, S. Chattopadhyay, Thien Nhan Chau, Z. Chen, D. Chirkin, S. Choi, Brian Clark, Alan Coleman, G. H. Collin, A. Connolly, J. M. Conrad, P. Coppin, Rebecca Corley, P. Correa, D. F. Cowen, P. Dave, C. De Clercq, J. J. DeLaunay, D. Delgado, Sen Deng, Aman Mukeshbhai Desai, P. Desiati, K. D. de Vries, G. de Wasseige, A. Diaz, J. C. Díaz–Vélez, P. Dierichs, M. Dittmer, A. Domi, Lincoln Draper, H. Dujmovic, K. Dutta, M. A. DuVernois, T. Ehrhardt, Leonhard Eidenschink, A. Eimer, P. Eller, E. Ellinger, Sharif El Mentawi, Dominik Elsässer, R. Engel, H. Erpenbeck, J. C. Evans, P. A. Evenson, Kwok Lung Fan, Ke Fang, Kareem Ramadan Farrag, A. R. Fazely, A. Fedynitch, N. Feigl, Sebastian Fiedlschuster, C. Finley
Abstract
This Letter presents the result of a 3+1 sterile neutrino search using 10.7 yr of IceCube data. We analyze atmospheric muon neutrinos that traverse the Earth with energies ranging from 0.5 to 100 TeV, incorporating significant improvements in modeling neutrino flux and detector response compared to earlier studies. Notably, for the first time, we categorize data into starting and throughgoing events, distinguishing neutrino interactions with vertices inside or outside the instrumented volume, to improve energy resolution. The best-fit point for a 3+1 model is found to be at sin^{2}(2θ_{24})=0.16 and Δm_{41}^{2}=3.5 eV^{2}, which agrees with previous iterations of this Letter. The result is consistent with the null hypothesis of no sterile neutrinos with a p value of 3.1%.