Searching for Sterile Neutrinos at MINOS

TL;DR

MINOS searches for sterile neutrinos by analyzing neutrino oscillations over a 734 km baseline, providing constraints on sterile neutrino parameters suggested by LSND and MiniBooNE.

Contribution

First MINOS analysis to search for sterile neutrinos using both charged current and neutral current interactions in a 3+1 model.

Findings

Constraints on sterile neutrino parameters in the LSND/MiniBooNE region

Complementary to previous numu to nue appearance searches

Results inform future sterile neutrino investigations

Abstract

MINOS is a two-detector on-axis experiment based at Fermilab. The NuMI neutrino beam encounters the MINOS Near Detector 1 km downstream before travelling 734 km through the Earth's crust, to reach the Far Detector located at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Northern Minnesota. By searching for oscillations driven by a large mass splitting, MINOS is sensitive to the existence of sterile neutrinos. This poster will present results of a search for sterile neutrinos that is sensitive to the parameter space suggested by LSND and MiniBooNE. Both charged current numu and neutral current neutrino interactions are analysed in a 3+1 model. This MINOS search for numu disappearance complements other previous experimental searches for sterile neutrinos in the numu to nue appearance channel.