Phenomenology of Sterile Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evidence for sterile neutrinos from short-baseline oscillation experiments, highlighting tensions in data interpretation within 3+1 and 3+2 mixing frameworks, and discussing the challenges in reconciling appearance and disappearance results.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of sterile neutrino phenomenology, analyzing data tensions in 3+1 and 3+2 models, and discusses the role of CP violation in experimental discrepancies.

Findings

Strong tension between appearance and disappearance data in 3+1 models

CP violation can explain neutrino-antineutrino differences in 3+2 models

Disappearance signals consistent with LSND and MiniBooNE antineutrino data are not observed

Abstract

The indications in favor of short-baseline neutrino oscillations, which require the existence of one or more sterile neutrinos, are reviewed. In the framework of 3+1 neutrino mixing, which is the simplest extension of the standard three-neutrino mixing which can partially explain the data, there is a strong tension in the interpretation of the data, mainly due to an incompatibility of the results of appearance and disappearance experiments. In the framework of 3+2 neutrino mixing, CP violation in short-baseline experiments can explain the difference between MiniBooNE neutrino and antineutrino data, but the tension between the data of appearance and disappearance experiments persists because the short-baseline disappearance of electron antineutrinos and muon neutrinos compatible with the LSND and MiniBooNE antineutrino appearance signal has not been observed.