Search for active-sterile antineutrino mixing using neutral-current interactions with the NOvA experiment
Creators: name: Acero, M. A.
name: Adamson, P.
name: Aliaga, L.
name: Anfimov, N.
name: Antoshkin, A.
name: Arrieta-Diaz, E.
name: Asquith, L.
name: Aurisano, A.
name: Back, A.
name: Backhouse, C.
name: Baird, M.
name: Balashov, N.
name: Baldi, P.
name: Bambah, B. A.
name: Bashar, S.
name: Bays, K.
name: Bernstein, R.
name: Bhatnagar, V.
name: Bhuyan, B.
name: Bian, J.
name: Blair, J.
name: Booth, A. C.
name: Bowles, R.
name: Bromberg, C.
name: Buchanan, N.
name: Butkevich, A.
name: Calvez, S.
name: Carroll, T. J.
name: Catano-Mur, E.
name: Choudhary, B. C.
name: Christensen, A.
name: Coan, T. E.
name: Colo, M.
name: Cremonesi, L.
name: Davies, G. S.
name: Derwent, P. F.
name: Ding, P.
name: Djurcic, Z.
name: Dolce, M.
name: Doyle, D.
name: Tonguino, D. Dueñas
name: Dukes, E. C.
name: Duyang, H.
name: Edayath, S.
name: Ehrlich, R.
name: Elkins, M.
name: Ewart, E.
name: Feldman, G. J.
name: Filip, P.
name: Franc, J.
name: Frank, M. J.
name: Gallagher, H. R.
name: Gandrajula, R.
name: Gao, F.
name: Giri, A.
name: Gomes, R. A.
name: Goodman, M. C.
name: Grichine, V.
name: Groh, M.
name: Group, R.
name: Guo, B.
name: Habig, A.
name: Hakl, F.
name: Hall, A.
name: Hartnell, J.
name: Hatcher, R.
name: Hausner, H.
name: Heller, K.
name: Hewes, V
name: Himmel, A.
name: Holin, A.
name: Huang, J.
name: Jargowsky, B.
name: Jarosz, J.
name: Jediny, F.
name: Johnson, C.
name: Judah, M.
name: Kakorin, I.
name: Kalra, D.
name: Kalitkina, A.
name: Kaplan, D. M.
name: Keloth, R.
name: Klimov, O.
name: Koerner, L. W.
name: Kolupaeva, L.
name: Kotelnikov, S.
name: Kralik, R.
name: Kullenberg, Ch.
name: Kubu, M.
name: Kumar, A.
name: Kuruppu, C. D.
name: Kus, V.
name: Lackey, T.
name: Lasorak, P.
name: Lang, K.
name: Lesmeister, J.
name: Lin, S.
name: Lister, A.
name: Liu, J.
name: Lokajicek, M.
name: Magill, S.
name: Plata, M. Manrique
name: Mann, W. A.
name: Marshak, M. L.
name: Martinez-Casales, M.
name: Matveev, V.
name: Mayes, B.
name: Méndez, D. P.
name: Messier, M. D.
name: Meyer, H.
name: Miao, T.
name: Miller, W. H.
name: Mishra, S. R.
name: Mislivec, A.
name: Mohanta, R.
name: Moren, A.
name: Morozova, A.
name: Mu, W.
name: Mualem, L.
name: Muether, M.
name: Mulder, K.
name: Naples, D.
name: Nayak, N.
name: Nelson, J. K.
name: Nichol, R.
name: Niner, E.
name: Norman, A.
name: Norrick, A.
name: Nosek, T.
name: Oh, H.
name: Olshevskiy, A.
name: Olson, T.
name: Ott, J.
name: Paley, J.
name: Patterson, R. B.
name: Pawloski, G.
name: Petrova, O.
name: Petti, R.
name: Phan, D. D.
name: Plunkett, R. K.
name: Porter, J. C. C.
name: Rafique, A.
name: Raj, V.
name: Rajaoalisoa, M.
name: Ramson, B.
name: Rebel, B.
name: Rojas, P.
name: Ryabov, V.
name: Samoylov, O.
name: Sanchez, M. C.
name: Falero, S. Sánchez
name: Shanahan, P.
name: Sheshukov, A.
name: Singh, P.
name: Singh, V.
name: Smith, E.
name: Smolik, J.
name: Snopok, P.
name: Solomey, N.
name: Sousa, A.
name: Soustruznik, K.
name: Strait, M.
name: Suter, L.
name: Sutton, A.
name: Swain, S.
name: Sweeney, C.
name: Oregui, B. Tapia
name: Tas, P.
name: Thakore, T.
name: Thayyullathil, R. B.
name: Thomas, J.
name: Tiras, E.
name: Tripathi, J.
name: Trokan-Tenorio, J.
name: Tsaris, A.
name: Torun, Y.
name: Urheim, J.
name: Vahle, P.
name: Vallari, Z.
name: Vasel, J.
name: Vokac, P.
name: Vrba, T.
name: Wallbank, M.
name: Warburton, T. K.
name: Wetstein, M.
name: Whittington, D.
name: Wickremasinghe, D. A.
name: Wojcicki, S. G.
name: Wolcott, J.
name: Wu, W.
name: Xiao, Y.
name: Dombara, A. Yallappa
name: Yonehara, K.
name: Yu, S.
name: Yu, Y.
name: Zadorozhnyy, S.
name: Zalesak, J.
name: Zhang, Y.
name: Zwaska, R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: This Letter reports results from the first long-baseline search for sterile antineutrinos mixing in an accelerator-based antineutrino-dominated beam. The rate of neutral-current interactions in the two NOvA detectors, at distances of 1 km and 810 km from the beam source, is analyzed using an exposure of $12.51\times10^{20}$ protons-on-target from the NuMI beam at Fermilab running in antineutrino mode. A total of $121$ of neutral-current candidates are observed at the Far Detector, compared to a prediction of $122\pm11$(stat.)$\pm15$(syst.) assuming mixing between three active flavors. No evidence for $\barν_μ\rightarrow\barν_{s}$ oscillation is observed. Interpreting this result within a 3+1 model, constraints are placed on the mixing angles $θ_{24} &lt; 25^{\circ}$ and $θ_{34} &lt; 32^{\circ}$ at the 90% C.L. for $0.05$eV$^{2} \leq Δm^{2}_{41} \leq 0.5$eV$^{2}$, the range of mass splittings that produces no significant oscillations at the Near Detector. These are the first 3+1 confidence limits set using long-baseline accelerator antineutrinos.
description: 8 pages, 4 figures