Searches for Sterile Neutrinos in Ice and in the Sun

by Alexei Smirnov (ICTP Trieste)

Tuesday 12 Apr 2011, 17:15 → 18:15 Europe/Berlin

Auditorium (MPI Physics)

Several recent experimental results can be considered as further indications for the existence of sterile neutrinos -- the hypothetical light neutral leptons without weak interactions. Being a manifestation of physics beyond the standard model, these neutrinos may give the key for understanding neutrino masses and mixing. In this connection two different possibilities will be described: 1) Very light sterile neutrinos which can explain certain features of the solar neutrino data and provide additional radiation in the Universe. 2) The eV-scale neutrinos which can be responsible for the anomalies in the LSND/MiniBooNE, reactor and calibration experiments. The latter possibility is strongly restricted or excluded by the IceCube results on atmospheric neutrinos.