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  • Andriamirado, M; Balantekin, B; Bass, C D; O Benevides Rodrigues; Bernard, E P; Bowden, N S; Bryan, C D; Carr, R; Classen, T; Conant, A J; Deichert, G; Dolinski, M J; Erickson, A; Galindo-Uribarri, A; Gokhale, S; Grant, C; Hans, S; Hansell, A B; Heeger, K M; Heffron, B; Jaffe, D E; Jayakumar, S; Koblanski, J R; Kunkle, P; Lane, C E; Littlejohn, B R; A Lozano Sanchez; X Lu; Machado, F; Maricic, J; Mendenhall, M P; Meyer, A M; Milincic, R; Mueller, P E; Mumm, H; Neilson, R; Qian, X; Roca, C; Rosero, R; Surukuchi, P; Sutanto, F; Venegas-Vargas, D; Weatherly, P B; Wilhelmi, J; Yeh, M; Zhang, C; Zhang, X

    arXiv.org, 06/2024
    Paper, Journal Article

    The PROSPECT experiment is designed to perform precise searches for antineutrino disappearance at short distances (7 - 9~m) from compact nuclear reactor cores. This Letter reports results from a new neutrino oscillation analysis performed using the complete data sample from the PROSPECT-I detector operated at the High Flux Isotope Reactor in 2018. The analysis uses a multi-period selection of inverse beta decay neutrino interactions with reduced backgrounds and enhanced statistical power to set limits on electron-flavor disappearance caused by mixing with sterile neutrinos with 0.2 - 20 eV\(^2\) mass splittings. Inverse beta decay positron energy spectra from six different reactor-detector distance ranges are found to be statistically consistent with one another, as would be expected in the absence of sterile neutrino oscillations. The data excludes at 95% confidence level the existence of sterile neutrinos in regions above 3~eV\(^2\) previously unexplored by terrestrial experiments, including all space below 10~eV\(^2\) suggested by the recently strengthened Gallium Anomaly. The best-fit point of the Neutrino-4 reactor experiment's claimed observation of short-baseline oscillation is ruled out at more than five standard deviations.