Measuring the Astrophysical $\bar{\nu}:\nu$ Ratio with IceCube
Abstract
Recent measurements of astrophysical neutrinos have expanded our understanding of their nature and origin. However, very little is still known about the astrophysical ratio. The only prior measurement is the recent, single Glashow event seen by IceCube. Understanding the astrophysical ratio has a bearing on multiple questions, including the astrophysical spectral shape and neutrino production mechanisms. This analysis uses a new approach to measuring the astrophysical muon ratio at various energies. It uses inelasticity, the fraction of the initial neutrino energy carried away by the hadronic shower. Inelasticity probes the ratio due to the fact that at energies below roughly 100 TeV, valence quarks dominate in deep inelastic scattering interactions, leading to different neutrino and antineutrino inelasticities and cross-sections. We use 10.3 years of IceCube data consisting of starting tracks at energies between 1 TeV and 1 PeV with a self-veto selection that enhances astrophysical event purity in the down-going direction. Based on this sample and analysis method, we present the first measurement of the astrophysical ratio at sub-PeV energies.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.02795,
title = {Measuring the Astrophysical $\bar{\nu}:\nu$ Ratio with IceCube},
author = {Barbara Skrzypek and Spencer Klein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.02795},
year = {2025}
}