RICE limits on the diffuse ultrahigh energy neutrino flux
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
We present new limits on ultrahigh energy neutrino fluxes above 10{sup 17} eV based on data collected by the Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) at the South Pole from 1999-2005. We discuss estimation of backgrounds, calibration and data analysis algorithms (both online and offline), procedures used for the dedicated neutrino search, and refinements in our Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, including recent in situ measurements of the complex ice dielectric constant. An enlarged data set and a more detailed study of hadronic showers results in a sensitivity improvement of more than 1 order of magnitude compared to our previously published results. Examination of the full RICE data set yields zero acceptable neutrino candidates, resulting in 95% confidence-level model-dependent limits on the flux E{sub {nu}}{sup 2}d{phi}/dE{sub {nu}}<10{sup -6} GeV/(cm{sup 2} s sr) in the energy range 10{sup 17}<E{sub {nu}}<10{sup 20} eV. The new RICE results rule out the most intense flux model projections at 95% confidence level.
- OSTI ID:
- 20782861
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 73, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.73.082002; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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