The Glashow resonance at IceCube: signatures, event rates and pp vs. pγ interactions

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2011/10/017· OSTI ID:22280228

Bhattacharya, Atri; Gandhi, Raj ^[1]; Rodejohann, Werner; Watanabe, Atsushi ^[2]

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1. Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Chhatnag Road, Jhunsi, Allahabad 211 019 (India)
2. Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, 69029 Heidelberg (Germany)

We revisit the signatures of the Glashow resonance process ν-bar {sub e}e → W in the high-energy astrophysical neutrino observatory IceCube. We note that in addition to the standard hadronic and electromagnetic showers produced by an incoming neutrino at the resonance energy of E{sub ν} ≈ 6.3 PeV, there are two clear signals of the process: the 'pure muon' from ν-bar {sub e}e → ν-bar {sub μ}μ and the 'contained lollipop' from ν-bar {sub e}e → ν-bar {sub τ}τ. The event rate and the signal-to-background ratio (the ratio of the resonant to concurrent non-resonant processes) are calculated for each type of interaction, based on current flux limits on the diffuse neutrino flux. Because of the low background in the neighborhood of the resonance, the observation of only one pure muon or contained lollipop event essentially signals discovery of the resonance, even if the expected event numbers are small. We also evaluate the total event rates of the Glashow resonance from the extra-galactic diffuse neutrino flux and emphasize its utility as a discovery tool to enable first observations of such a flux. We find that one can expect 3.6 (0.65) events per year for a pure pp (pγ) source, along with an added contribution of 0.51 (0.21) from non-resonant events. We also give results as a function of the ratio of pp vs pγ sources.

• OSTI ID: 22280228
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 2011; ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC NEUTRINOS
ELECTRON ANTINEUTRINOS
HADRONS
NEUTRINO-ELECTRON INTERACTIONS
PEV RANGE
PROTON-PROTON INTERACTIONS
RESONANCE
TAU PARTICLES
VELA PROJECT
W MINUS BOSONS
W PLUS BOSONS