Confusing sterile neutrinos with deviation from tribimaximal mixing at neutrino telescopes

Abstract

We expound on the impact of extra sterile species on the ultra high energy neutrino fluxes in neutrino telescopes. We use three types of well-known flux ratios and compare the values of these flux ratios in the presence of sterile neutrinos, with those predicted by deviation from the tribimaximal mixing scheme. We show that in the upcoming neutrino telescopes, it is easy to confuse the signature of sterile neutrinos with that of the deviation from tribimaximal mixing. We also show that if the measured flux ratios acquire a value well outside the range predicted by the standard scenario with three active neutrinos only, it might be possible to tell the presence of extra sterile neutrinos by observing ultra high energy neutrinos in future neutrino telescopes.