2021
DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-08774-2
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Statistical interpretation of sterile neutrino oscillation searches at reactors

Abstract: A considerable experimental effort is currently under way to test the persistent hints for oscillations due to an eV-scale sterile neutrino in the data of various reactor neutrino experiments. The assessment of the statistical significance of these hints is usually based on Wilks’ theorem, whereby the assumption is made that the log-likelihood is $$\chi ^2$$ χ 2 -distributed. However, it is well known that the precond… Show more

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Cited by 30 publications
(45 citation statements)
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“…Before discussing our results, let us point out that the determination of the sensitivity to sterile neutrinos from oscillations is non-trivial from the statistical point of view. In particular, the results obtained under the assumption that Wilks' theorem [95] applies may differ from the ones obtained via Monte Carlo simulation [43,[96][97][98]. The sensitivity contours in this work have however been computed under the assumption that Wilks' theorem applies, in order to ease the comparison with previous literature.…”
Section: Sterile Neutrinosmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…Before discussing our results, let us point out that the determination of the sensitivity to sterile neutrinos from oscillations is non-trivial from the statistical point of view. In particular, the results obtained under the assumption that Wilks' theorem [95] applies may differ from the ones obtained via Monte Carlo simulation [43,[96][97][98]. The sensitivity contours in this work have however been computed under the assumption that Wilks' theorem applies, in order to ease the comparison with previous literature.…”
Section: Sterile Neutrinosmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…The result is, however, partly excluded by the above results and in strong tension with constraints from cosmology [37,38]. The analysis of Neutrino-4 has been criticised regarding various points [26,27,39], most significantly regarding the soundness of the statistical technique.…”
Section: Neutrino-4mentioning
confidence: 97%
“…While these methods are in themselves correct, their use partly impairs a direct comparison of results and requires careful global or joint analyses to combine results [25]. Moreover, it has been pointed out that some of the experimental results are based on statistical assumptions which are prone to overestimation of the significance of discovery [26,27]. This criticism especially addresses the use of Wilks' theorem in cases where its assumptions are not strictly met [28].…”
Section: Shape Approachmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Neutrino-4 has recently claimed to observe active-sterile oscillation at 3.5σ around the vicinity of ∆m 2 41 ≈ 7 eV 2 and θ 14 ≈ 18 • by analyzing the its reactor antineutrino data accumulated since 2016 [47][48][49]. Though it has later been argued in literature that considering a more appropriate log-likelihood distribution [50,51] or correct energy resolution [52], the statistical significance of the active-sterile observa-…”
Section: Jhep09(2021)162mentioning
confidence: 99%