Searching for Pseudo-Dirac neutrinos from Astrophysical sources in IceCube data (2406.06476v3)

Abstract: We analyze IceCube public data from its IC86 configuration, namely PSTracks event selection, to search for pseudo-Dirac signatures in high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources. Neutrino flux from astrophysical sources is reduced in the pseudo-Dirac scenario due to the conversion of active-to-sterile neutrinos as compared to the neutrino oscillation scenario of only three active neutrinos over astrophysical distances. We fit IceCube data using astrophysical flux models for three point-like sources in both scenarios and constrain the active-sterile mass-square-difference in the absence of any evidence for pseudo-Dirac scenario. We find that a common mass-squared-difference $\delta m^2$ for all three flavors can be constrained as $\delta m^2 \lesssim 3 \times 10^{-19}~eV^2$ for the source NGC 1068, $\delta m^2 \lesssim 1.5 \times 10^{-20}~eV^2$ for the source TXS 0506+056, $\delta m^2 \lesssim 2.2 \times 10^{-21}~eV^2$ for the source PKS 1424+240 and $\delta m^2 \lesssim 8.5 \times 10^{-19}~eV^2$ for the source NGC 4151 at 90% C.L. A stacking analysis gives a constraint on $\delta m^2 \lesssim 2.2 \times 10^{-21}~eV^2$ at 90% CL which is dominated by the constraint obtained from PKS 1424+240.