Non-standard neutrino interactions in IceCube

Abstract

Neutrinos interact weakly with matter mediated by the W and Z bosons. For example, neutrino interactions with electrons in the earth interferes with the propagation of neutrinos, producing a measurable effect called the “MSW effect” [2]. These types of interactions are the “standard interactions” of neutrinos in standard matter. Some non-standard model theories predict the existence of heavy TeV-scale bosons. Recent ATLAS results have 3.4 sigma significance for a resonance in the diboson channel around 2 TeV [1], which could be caused by non-standard bosons interacting with matter. The neutrino interaction rate in matter would then fluctuate from the standard prediction due to interactions with these bosons in addition to the standard W and Z. Like the MSW effect, the fluctuation of neutrinos detected compared to those produced on the opposite side of the earth would be measurable. This analysis aims to measure this effect in the IceCube experiment using the event selection from the DeepCore three-year muon disappearance result. Because of the wide range of neutrino energies it can observe IceCube has the potential to set world leading limits for this measurement. The limits that can be set on the NSI parameters from interactions of muon neutrinos with non-standard bosons will be discussed.