Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino cross section with IceCube using Earth absorption
Abstract
Neutrinos interact only very weakly, so they are extremely penetrating. However, the theoretical neutrino-nucleon interaction cross section rises with energy such that, at energies above 40 TeV, neutrinos are expected to be absorbed as they pass through the Earth. Experimentally, the cross section has been measured only at the relatively low energies (below 400 GeV) available at neutrino beams from accelerators \cite{Agashe:2014kda, Formaggio:2013kya}. Here we report the first measurement of neutrino absorption in the Earth, using a sample of 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons observed with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The flux of high-energy neutrinos transiting long paths through the Earth is attenuated compared to a reference sample that follows shorter trajectories through the Earth. Using a fit to the two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we determine the cross section for neutrino energies between 6.3 TeV and 980 TeV, more than an order of magnitude higher in energy than previous measurements. The measured cross section is (stat.) (syst.) times the prediction of the Standard Model \cite{CooperSarkar:2011pa}, consistent with the expectation for charged and neutral current interactions. We do not observe a dramatic increase in the cross section, expected in some speculative models, including those invoking new compact dimensions \cite{AlvarezMuniz:2002ga} or the production of leptoquarks \cite{Romero:2009vu}.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1711.08119,
title = {Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino cross section with IceCube using Earth absorption},
author = {IceCube Collaboration and M. G. Aartsen and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J. A. Aguilar and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and I. Al Samarai and D. Altmann and K. Andeen and T. Anderson and I. Ansseau and G. Anton and C. Argüelles and J. Auffenberg and S. Axani and H. Bagherpour and X. Bai and J. P. Barron and S. W. Barwick and V. Baum and R. Bay and J. J. Beatty and J. Becker Tjus and K. -H. Becker and S. BenZvi and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and D. Z. Besson and G. Binder and D. Bindig and E. Blaufuss and S. Blot and C. Bohm and M. Börner and F. Bos and D. Bose and S. Böser and O. Botner and J. Bourbeau and F. Bradascio and J. Braun and L. Brayeur and M. Brenzke and H. -P. Bretz and S. Bron and J. Brostean-Kaiser and A. Burgman and T. Carver and J. Casey and M. Casier and E. Cheung and D. Chirkin and A. Christov and K. Clark and L. Classen and S. Coenders and G. H. Collin and J. M. Conrad and D. F. Cowen and R. Cross and M. Day and J. P. A. M. de André and C. De Clercq and J. J. DeLaunay and H. Dembinski and S. De Ridder and P. Desiati and K. D. de Vries and G. de Wasseige and M. de With and T. DeYoung and J. C. Díaz-Vélez and V. di Lorenzo and H. Dujmovic and J. P. Dumm and M. Dunkman and B. Eberhardt and T. Ehrhardt and B. Eichmann and P. Eller and P. A. Evenson and S. Fahey and A. R. Fazely and J. Felde and K. Filimonov and C. Finley and S. Flis and A. Franckowiak and E. Friedman and T. Fuchs and T. K. Gaisser and J. Gallagher and L. Gerhardt and K. Ghorbani and W. Giang and T. Glauch and T. Glüsenkamp and A. Goldschmidt and J. G. Gonzalez and D. Grant and Z. Griffith and C. Haack and A. Hallgren and F. Halzen and K. Hanson and D. Hebecker and D. Heereman and K. Helbing and R. Hellauer and S. Hickford and J. Hignight and G. C. Hill and K. D. Hoffman and R. Hoffmann and B. Hokanson-Fasig and K. Hoshina and F. Huang and M. Huber and K. Hultqvist and M. Hünnefeld and S. In and A. Ishihara and E. Jacobi and G. S. Japaridze and M. Jeong and K. Jero and B. J. P. Jones and P. Kalaczynski and W. Kang and A. Kappes and T. Karg and A. Karle and U. Katz and M. Kauer and A. Keivani and J. L. Kelley and A. Kheirandish and J. Kim and M. Kim and T. Kintscher and J. Kiryluk and T. Kittler and S. R. Klein and G. Kohnen and R. Koirala and H. Kolanoski and L. Köpke and C. Kopper and S. Kopper and J. P. Koschinsky and D. J. Koskinen and M. Kowalski and K. Krings and M. Kroll and G. Krückl and J. Kunnen and S. Kunwar and N. Kurahashi and T. Kuwabara and A. Kyriacou and M. Labare and J. L. Lanfranchi and M. J. Larson and F. Lauber and D. Lennarz and M. Lesiak-Bzdak and M. Leuermann and Q. R. Liu and L. Lu and J. Lünemann and W. Luszczak and J. Madsen and G. Maggi and K. B. M. Mahn and S. Mancina and R. Maruyama and K. Mase and R. Maunu and F. McNally and K. Meagher and M. Medici and M. Meier and T. Menne and G. Merino and T. Meures and S. Miarecki and J. Micallef and G. Momenté and T. Montaruli and R. W. Moore and M. Moulai and R. Nahnhauer and P. Nakarmi and U. Naumann and G. Neer and H. Niederhausen and S. C. Nowicki and D. R. Nygren and A. Obertacke Pollmann and A. Olivas and A. O'Murchadha and T. Palczewski and H. Pandya and D. V. Pankova and P. Peiffer and J. A. Pepper and C. Pérez de los Heros and D. Pieloth and E. Pinat and M. Plum and P. B. Price and G. T. Przybylski and C. Raab and L. Rädel and M. Rameez and K. Rawlins and I. C. Rea and R. Reimann and B. Relethford and M. Relich and E. Resconi and W. Rhode and M. Richman and S. Robertson and M. Rongen and C. Rott and T. Ruhe and D. Ryckbosch and D. Rysewyk and T. Sälzer and S. E. Sanchez Herrera and A. Sandrock and J. Sandroos and S. Sarkar and S. Sarkar and K. Satalecka and P. Schlunder and T. Schmidt and A. Schneider and S. Schoenen and S. Schöneberg and L. Schumacher and D. Seckel and S. Seunarine and J. Soedingrekso and D. Soldin and M. Song and G. M. Spiczak and C. Spiering and J. Stachurska and M. Stamatikos and T. Stanev and A. Stasik and J. Stettner and A. Steuer and T. Stezelberger and R. G. Stokstad and A. Stößl and N. L. Strotjohann and G. W. Sullivan and M. Sutherland and I. Taboada and J. Tatar and F. Tenholt and S. Ter-Antonyan and A. Terliuk and G. Tešić and S. Tilav and P. A. Toale and M. N. Tobin and S. Toscano and D. Tosi and M. Tselengidou and C. F. Tung and A. Turcati and C. F. Turley and B. Ty and E. Unger and M. Usner and J. Vandenbroucke and W. Van Driessche and N. van Eijndhoven and S. Vanheule and J. van Santen and M. Vehring and E. Vogel and M. Vraeghe and C. Walck and A. Wallace and M. Wallraff and F. D. Wandler and N. Wandkowsky and A. Waza and C. Weaver and M. J. Weiss and C. Wendt and J. Werthebach and S. Westerhoff and B. J. Whelan and K. Wiebe and C. H. Wiebusch and L. Wille and D. R. Williams and L. Wills and M. Wolf and J. Wood and T. R. Wood and E. Woolsey and K. Woschnagg and D. L. Xu and X. W. Xu and Y. Xu and J. P. Yanez and G. Yodh and S. Yoshida and T. Yuan and M. Zoll},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.08119},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
Preprint version of Nature paper 10.1038/nature24459