A Search for an Ev-Scale Sterile Neutrino Using Improved High-Energy Ν_μ Event Reconstruction in IceCube

This Letter presents the result of a 3+1 sterile neutrino search using 10.7years of IceCube data. We analyze atmospheric muon neutrinos that traverse theEarth with energies ranging from 0.5 to 100 TeV, incorporating significantimprovements in modeling neutrino flux and detector response compared toearlier studies. Notably, for the first time, we categorize data into startingand through-going events, distinguishing neutrino interactions with verticesinside or outside the instrumented volume, to improve energy resolution. Thebest-fit point for a 3+1 model is found to be at sin^2(2θ_24) = 0.16and Δ m^2_41 = 3.5 eV^2, which agrees with previous iterations ofthis study. The result is consistent with the null hypothesis of no sterileneutrinos with a p-value of 3.1%.