Searching for Sterile Neutrinos with MINOS

TL;DR

This paper reports on a search for sterile neutrinos using MINOS data, setting new limits on their properties by analyzing energy-dependent oscillation patterns and neutral current event deficits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis method to explore previously untested regions in sterile neutrino parameter space using MINOS data.

Findings

Set new limits on sterile neutrino parameters $\

,

],

Abstract

This document presents the latest results for a 3+1 sterile neutrino search using the $10.56 \times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target data set taken from 2005 - 2012. By searching for oscillations driven by a large mass splitting, MINOS is sensitive to the existence of sterile neutrinos through any energy dependent deviations using a charged current sample, as well as looking at any relative deficit between neutral current events between the far and near detectors. This document will discuss the novel analysis that enabled a search for sterile neutrinos setting a limit in the previously unexplored regions in the parameter space $\{\Delta m^{2}_{41}, \sin^2\theta_{24}\}$. The results presented can be compared to the parameter space suggested by LSND and MiniBooNE and complements other previous experimental searches for sterile neutrinos in the electron neutrino appearance channel.