Search for a sub-eV sterile neutrino using Daya Bay's full dataset
S. Zhang*
on behalf of the Daya Bay collaboration*: corresponding author
Pre-published on:
December 17, 2024
Published on:
April 29, 2025
Abstract
The Daya Bay reactor antineutrino experiment operated with three different dectector configurations in three consecutive periods From 2011 to 2020, with up to eight identically active antineutrino detectors (ADs). The ADs were distributed among two near experimental halls and one far hall, with baselines spanning from 360m to 1900m. Each AD contained a target mass of $\sim$ 20 tons of gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator, obseverd by 192 8-inch photomultiplier tubes. Results of a search for the mixing of a sub-eV sterile neutrino based on Daya Bay's full data sample are presented. The results are obtained in the minimally extended 3+1 neutrino mixing model. The analysis benefits from a doubling of the statistics ($5.55\times10^{6}$ candidates) of our previous result and from improvements of several important systematic uncertainties. No significant oscillation due to mixing of a sub-eV sterile neutrino with active neutrinos was found. Exclusion limits are set by both Feldman-Cousins and $\mathrm{CL_s}$ methods. The sensitivity to $\sin^22\theta_{14}$ achieves $5\times10^{-3}$ with $95\%$ confidence level, which represents the world leading constraints in the region of $2\times10^{-4}$ eV$^2$ $\lesssim\Delta m^{2}_{41}\lesssim2\times10^{-1}$ eV$^2$.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.476.0196
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