The Search for Sterile Neutrinos in IceCube

In a study published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, IceCube researchers may have largely put to rest the notion of a light sterile neutrino. In two independent analyses of data from the massive Antarctic detector-each consisting of a year’s worth of data, or about 100,000 neutrino events-the striking feature associated with the sterile neutrino was nowhere to be found. The group concludes that, with 99 percent certainty, the eV-mass sterile neutrino hinted at by previous experiments does not exist.
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[@chambles4181]

Great video, I'd love to work at a detector like this someday.

[@RohitKumarM]

amazingly intriguing beginning and ending music :D

[@sicktoaster]

I'm trying to listen I really am. At about 3:43 does he say "evidence for nine sterile neutrino"? It's hard to make out.
EDIT: OK, closed captioning says "light sterile neutrino". Closed captioning actually works. Usually I turn on closed captioning and am disappointed.

[@bingosunnoon9341]

Are neutrinos affected by gravity? Asking for a friend.

[@sudhakarreddy1453]

Anything with mass has to be affected by gravity, whatsoever small that affect may be -- quantum gravity might in future enlighten us on this!!

[@atanunath]

@@sudhakarreddy1453 even something without mass but having a momentum, e.g. photons, will be affected too.

[@jessstuart7495]

So, how do you detect a sterile neutrino???

[@IceCubeNeutrino]

We don't detect them one by one. If they exist, we would see a disappearance of muon neutrinos in IceCube, because they would have changed (oscillated) into a sterile neutrino, which will leave no trace in IceCube.

[@jessstuart7495]

How do you discern a muon neutrino just escaping IceCube undetected, from one that changes into a sterile neutrino?

[@IceCubeNeutrino]

You cannot distinguish them one by one. If a certain amount of muon neutrinos change into sterile neutrinos, then we will observe less muon neutrinos in IceCube.

[@ingebrecht]

Would it be possible to deliberately alter the expected statistical average of the neutrino flavor count in some way and use the source for a communication system?

[@TomTom-rh5gk]

great video. I subscribed.

[@radiopete7290]

I thought a nutrino was a fast muscle car

[@hahayuer6186]

so what is the connection between neutrino and dark matter? I know neutrino is not a dominant candidate, but can it represent a part of dark matter?

[@IceCubeNeutrino]

Sterile neutrinos, if they exist and if they have a large mass, could account for some of the dark matter in our universe.

[@ronmccabe7164]

So, a hypothesis looking for data, NOT data looking for a hypothesis. I would call that backward science.

[@hivesteel]

The hypothesis makes a prediction then you check if the data makes that prediction…

[@NicholasAShaw]

:D I'm not learning a thing!

[@Floxflow]

So you dont have a clue.