MiniBooNE, $\mathrm{MINOS}+$ and IceCube data imply a baroque neutrino sector

The $4.8\sigma$ anomaly in MiniBooNE data cannot be reconciled with $\mathrm{MINOS}+$ and IceCube data within the vanilla framework of neutrino oscillations involving an eV-mass sterile neutrino. We show that an apparently consistent picture can be drawn if charged-current and neutral-current nonstandard neutrino interactions are at work in the $3+1$ neutrino scheme. It appears that either the neutrino sector is more elaborate than usually envisioned, or one or more data sets needs revision.

Figure 1

The $1\sigma$, $2\sigma$, and $3\sigma$ regions allowed by DANSS. The blue plus sign marks the best-fit point, $\delta m_{41}^2=1.4{\mathrm{eV}}^2$ and ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{14}=0.016$.

Figure 2

The difference of the measured oscillation probabilities between the $3+1$ and standard three-neutrino oscillation cases at the $\mathrm{MINOS}+$ far detector (left) and near detector (right). The solid (dashed) curve corresponds to the case with (without) NSI. Here $\delta m_{41}^2=1.4{\mathrm{eV}}^2$, ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{14}={\sin }^2{\theta }_{14}={\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^D=0.02$, ${\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^m=-0.7$, ${\epsilon }_{\tau \tau }^m=-0.5$, and ${\epsilon }_{ss}^m=6$, and the other mixing angles and mass-squared differences are the best-fit values in Ref. [18]. The fast oscillations have been averaged out. The shaded band represents the $1\sigma$ systematic uncertainties at the near detector.

Figure 3

The 90% C.L. exclusion limits for the $3+1$ scenario from MINOS and $\mathrm{MINOS}+$ data. The dashed black curve is extracted from Ref. [11], and the black solid curve corresponds to the $3+1$ case from our analysis of the FD data only. The red curves correspond to the $3+1+\mathrm{NSI}$ case with ${\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^D=0.02$. The solid red curve corresponds to no NC NSI, while the dashed red curve corresponds to ${\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^m=-4.3$ and ${\epsilon }_{\tau \tau }^m=-4$, and the dotted red curve corresponds to ${\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^m=-0.7$, ${\epsilon }_{\tau \tau }^m=-0.5$ and ${\epsilon }_{ss}^m=6$. The shaded (hatched) region corresponds to the $3\sigma$ allowed region for the combined LSND and MiniBooNE appearance analysis [5] with ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{14}=0.01$ (0.02). The gray curve corresponds to the CERN Dortmund Heidelberg Saclay neutrino experiment 90% C.L. exclusion limit, as shown in Ref. [11]. The blue plus sign marks the point in Eq. (10).

Figure 4

The 90% C.L. exclusion limits for the $3+1$ scenario from IceCube and DeepCore data. The solid black curve corresponds to the $3+1$ oscillations without NSI, and the solid red [blue] curve corresponds to the $3+1+\mathrm{NSI}$ (a) [(b)] case. The red (blue) dashed contour corresponds to the 90% C.L. allowed region in case (a) [(b)]. The shaded (hatched) region corresponds to the $3\sigma$ allowed region for the combined LSND and MiniBooNE appearance analysis [5] with ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{14}=0.01$ (0.02). ${\epsilon }_{\mu \mu }^D=0.02$ for the NSI scenarios. The blue plus sign marks the point in Eq. (10).

Figure 5

Zenith angle distributions of the averaged atmospheric muon neutrino and antineutrino survival probabilities for two Super-Kamiokande energy bins. The solid (dashed) [dotted] curve corresponds to the $3+1+\mathrm{NSI}$ ($3+1$) [$3\nu$] case. For the $3+1$ case without NSI, the spectra are normalized by a factor of 1.04 to compare with the $3\nu$ case. The oscillation parameters are the same as in Fig. 2.

Figure 6

The survival probabilities of solar neutrinos for the $3\nu$, $3+1$, and $3+1+\mathrm{NSI}$ cases. The oscillation parameters are the same as in Fig. 2.