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Exploring Long-Range Interactions in the Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations at IceCube DeepCore

Gopal Garg

TL;DR

The paper addresses potential flavor-dependent long-range interactions in neutrino oscillations arising from gauging L_e-L_mu or L_e-L_tau, mediated by a very light Z' boson. It shows how such an interaction adds a long-range potential to the neutrino Hamiltonian and can modify oscillation patterns, particularly for long baselines and intermediate energies. Using 9.28 years of simulated atmospheric-neutrino data for IceCube DeepCore and a Gaussian chi-squared analysis with nuisance parameters, the authors derive Asimov-sensitivity bounds on the LRI potential, reporting 90% C.L. limits near 9–10×10^-15 eV for the two symmetries. The results demonstrate IceCube DeepCore’s capability to probe ultra-light gauge bosons and flavor-dependent beyond-Standard-Model physics, complementing other neutrino experiments.

Abstract

The IceCube neutrino observatory consists of an array of Digital Optical Modules (DOMs) instrumenting one cubic-kilometer of deep glacial ice at the South Pole. DeepCore, a densely-spaced sub-array of DOMs at the bottom central region of IceCube, enables the detection of atmospheric neutrinos with an energy threshold in the GeV range. The high statistics data of DeepCore provides a unique opportunity to perform neutrino oscillation studies as well as explore various sub-leading Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics signatures. We consider a well-motivated minimal extension of the Standard Model by an additional anomaly-free, gauged lepton-number symmetry, such as $L_e - L_μ$ or $L_e - L_τ$. These symmetries give rise to flavor-dependent long-range interaction mediated through a very light neutral gauge boson. In this contribution, we present the sensitivity of the IceCube DeepCore detector to search for this flavor-dependent long-range interaction potential with a runtime of 9.3 years.

Exploring Long-Range Interactions in the Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations at IceCube DeepCore

TL;DR

The paper addresses potential flavor-dependent long-range interactions in neutrino oscillations arising from gauging L_e-L_mu or L_e-L_tau, mediated by a very light Z' boson. It shows how such an interaction adds a long-range potential to the neutrino Hamiltonian and can modify oscillation patterns, particularly for long baselines and intermediate energies. Using 9.28 years of simulated atmospheric-neutrino data for IceCube DeepCore and a Gaussian chi-squared analysis with nuisance parameters, the authors derive Asimov-sensitivity bounds on the LRI potential, reporting 90% C.L. limits near 9–10×10^-15 eV for the two symmetries. The results demonstrate IceCube DeepCore’s capability to probe ultra-light gauge bosons and flavor-dependent beyond-Standard-Model physics, complementing other neutrino experiments.

Abstract

The IceCube neutrino observatory consists of an array of Digital Optical Modules (DOMs) instrumenting one cubic-kilometer of deep glacial ice at the South Pole. DeepCore, a densely-spaced sub-array of DOMs at the bottom central region of IceCube, enables the detection of atmospheric neutrinos with an energy threshold in the GeV range. The high statistics data of DeepCore provides a unique opportunity to perform neutrino oscillation studies as well as explore various sub-leading Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics signatures. We consider a well-motivated minimal extension of the Standard Model by an additional anomaly-free, gauged lepton-number symmetry, such as or . These symmetries give rise to flavor-dependent long-range interaction mediated through a very light neutral gauge boson. In this contribution, we present the sensitivity of the IceCube DeepCore detector to search for this flavor-dependent long-range interaction potential with a runtime of 9.3 years.
Paper Structure (6 sections, 2 equations, 2 figures)

This paper contains 6 sections, 2 equations, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. IceCube DeepCore Detector
  3. Analysis Details
  4. Sensitivity Results
  5. Conclusion
  6. Acknowledgement.

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Three-flavor $P(\nu_\mu \rightarrow \nu_\mu)$ oscillogram in Energy and $\rm cos \theta$ plane. The left, middle, and right panels correspond to LRI potential $V_{e\mu} = 1 \times 10^{-13}$ eV, standard case, and the difference between these two scenarios, respectively.
  • Figure 2: The preliminary sensitivity of DeepCore for $V_{e\mu}$ ($V_{e\tau}$) on the left (right) panel. The red (blue) curve corresponds to normal (inverted) mass ordering.