A Search for UHE Tau Neutrinos with IceCube
Abstract
The first dedicated search for ultra-high energy (UHE) tau neutrinos of astrophysical origin was performed using the IceCube detector in its 22-string configuration with an instrumented volume of roughly 0.25 km^3. The search also had sensitivity to UHE electron and muon neutrinos. After application of all selection criteria to approximately 200 live-days of data, we expect a background of 0.60 +/- 0.19 (stat.) (syst.) events and observe three events, which after inspection emerge as being compatible with background but are kept in the final sample. Therefore, we set an upper limit on neutrinos of all-flavors from UHE astrophysical sources at 90% CL of $E^{2} \Phi(\nu_{x}) < 16.3 * 10^-8 GeV cm^-2 sr^-1 s^-1 over an estimated primary neutrino energy range of 340 TeV to 200 PeV.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1202.4564,
title = {A Search for UHE Tau Neutrinos with IceCube},
author = {IceCube Collaboration and R. Abbasi and Y. Abdou and T. Abu-Zayyad and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J. A. Aguilar and M. Ahlers and D. Altmann and K. Andeen and J. Auffenberg and X. Bai and M. Baker and S. W. Barwick and V. Baum and R. Bay and K. Beattie and J. J. Beatty and S. Bechet and J. K. Becker and K. -H. Becker and M. Bell and M. L. Benabderrahmane and S. BenZvi and J. Berdermann and P. Berghaus and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and D. Bertrand and D. Z. Besson and D. Bindig and M. Bissok and E. Blaufuss and J. Blumenthal and D. J. Boersma and C. Bohm and D. Bose1 and S. Böser and O. Botner and L. Brayeur and A. M. Brown and S. Buitink and K. S. Caballero-Mora and M. Carson and M. Casier and D. Chirkin and B. Christy and F. Clevermann and S. Cohen and D. F. Cowen and A. H. Cruz Silva and M. V. D'Agostino and M. Danninger and J. Daughhetee and J. C. Davis and C. De Clercq and T. Degner and F. Descamps and P. Desiati and G. de Vries-Uiterweerd and T. DeYoung and J. C. Díaz-Vélez and J. Dreyer and J. P. Dumm and M. Dunkman and J. Eisch and R. W. Ellsworth and O. Engdegård and S. Euler and P. A. Evenson and O. Fadiran and A. R. Fazely and A. Fedynitch and J. Feintzeig and T. Feusels and K. Filimonov and C. Finley and T. Fischer-Wasels and S. Flis and A. Franckowiak and R. Franke and T. K. Gaisser and J. Gallagher and L. Gerhardt and L. Gladstone and T. Glüsenkamp and A. Goldschmidt and J. A. Goodman and D. Góra and D. Grant and A. Groß and S. Grullon and M. Gurtner and C. Ha and A. Haj Ismail and A. Hallgren and F. Halzen and K. Hanson and D. Heereman and P. Heimann and D. Heinen and K. Helbing and R. Hellauer and S. Hickford and G. C. Hill and K. D. Hoffman and B. Hoffmann and A. Homeier and K. Hoshina and W. Huelsnitz and P. O. Hulth and K. Hultqvist and S. Hussain and A. Ishihara and E. Jacobi and J. Jacobsen and G. S. Japaridze and H. Johansson and A. Kappes and T. Karg and A. Karle and J. Kiryluk and F. Kislat and S. R. Klein and J. -H. Köhne and G. Kohnen and H. Kolanoski and L. Köpke and S. Kopper and D. J. Koskinen and M. Kowalski and M. Krasberg and G. Kroll and J. Kunnen and N. Kurahashi and T. Kuwabara and M. Labare1 and K. Laihem and H. Landsman and M. J. Larson and R. Lauer and J. Lünemann and J. Madsen and R. Maruyama and K. Mase and H. S. Matis and K. Meagher and M. Merck and P. Mészáros and T. Meures and S. Miarecki and E. Middell and N. Milke and J. Miller and T. Montaruli and R. Morse and S. M. Movit and R. Nahnhauer and J. W. Nam and U. Naumann and S. C. Nowicki and D. R. Nygren and S. Odrowski and A. Olivas and M. Olivo and A. O'Murchadha and S. Panknin1 and L. Paul and C. Pérez de los Heros and D. Pieloth and J. Posselt and P. B. Price and G. T. Przybylski and K. Rawlins and P. Redl and E. Resconi and W. Rhode and M. Ribordy and M. Richman and B. Riedel and J. P. Rodrigues and F. Rothmaier and C. Rott and T. Ruhe and D. Rutledge and B. Ruzybayev and D. Ryckbosch and H. -G. Sander and M. Santander and S. Sarkar and K. Schatto and M. Scheel and T. Schmidt and S. Schöneberg and A. Schönwald and A. Schukraft and L. Schulte1 and A. Schultes and O. Schulz and M. Schunck and D. Seckel and B. Semburg and S. H. Seo and Y. Sestayo and S. Seunarine1 and A. Silvestri and M. W. E. Smith and G. M. Spiczak and C. Spiering and M. Stamatikos and T. Stanev and T. Stezelberger and R. G. Stokstad and A. Stößl and E. A. Strahler and R. Ström and M. Stüer and G. W. Sullivan and H. Taavola and I. Taboada and A. Tamburro and S. Ter-Antonyan and S. Tilav and P. A. Toale and S. Toscano and N. van Eijndhoven and A. Van Overloop and J. van Santen and M. Vehring and M. Voge1 and C. Walck and T. Waldenmaier and M. Wallraff and M. Walter and R. Wasserman and Ch. Weaver and C. Wendt and S. Westerhoff and N. Whitehorn and K. Wiebe and C. H. Wiebusch and D. R. Williams and R. Wischnewski and H. Wissing and M. Wolf and T. R. Wood and K. Woschnagg and C. Xu and D. L. Xu and X. W. Xu and J. P. Yanez and G. Yodh and S. Yoshida and P. Zarzhitsky and M. Zoll},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.4564},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
15 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. D; Clarified the definition of rho(q). Added a table which describes each cut. Divided section IVC to two sections. Made two 1-D plots for Fig. 16 instead of one 2-D plot. Provided a probability to observe 3 events under pure background assumption. Clarified more in detail how the final limit was derived. etc