DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos

Abstract

The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos is a rich observable. However, present analyses cannot effectively distinguish particle showers induced by νe vs ντ. We show that this can be accomplished by measuring the intensities of the delayed, collective light emission from muon decays and neutron captures, which are, on average, greater for ντ than for νe. In conclusion, this new technique would significantly improve tests of the nature of astrophysical sources and of neutrino properties. We discuss the promising prospects for implementing it in IceCube and other detectors.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  2. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen (Denmark)
  3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1526442
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; PHY-1404311
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

Citation Formats

Li, Shirley Weishi, Bustamante, Mauricio, and Beacom, John F. Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.122.151101.
Li, Shirley Weishi, Bustamante, Mauricio, & Beacom, John F. Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.151101
Li, Shirley Weishi, Bustamante, Mauricio, and Beacom, John F. Tue . "Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.151101. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1526442.
@article{osti_1526442,
title = {Echo Technique to Distinguish Flavors of Astrophysical Neutrinos},
author = {Li, Shirley Weishi and Bustamante, Mauricio and Beacom, John F.},
abstractNote = {The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos is a rich observable. However, present analyses cannot effectively distinguish particle showers induced by νe vs ντ. We show that this can be accomplished by measuring the intensities of the delayed, collective light emission from muon decays and neutron captures, which are, on average, greater for ντ than for νe. In conclusion, this new technique would significantly improve tests of the nature of astrophysical sources and of neutrino properties. We discuss the promising prospects for implementing it in IceCube and other detectors.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.122.151101},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 15,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 17 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Probing BSM neutrino physics with flavor and spectral distortions: Prospects for future high-energy neutrino telescopes
journal, April 2016


Flavor composition and energy spectrum of astrophysical neutrinos
journal, June 2007


An analysis of cosmic neutrinos: Flavor composition at source and neutrino mixing parameters
journal, November 2009


Delayed light emission to distinguish astrophysical neutrino flavors in IceCube
conference, August 2018

  • Steuer, Anna; Koepke, Lutz
  • Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)
  • DOI: 10.22323/1.301.1008

Review of Particle Physics
journal, August 2014


The IceCube Neutrino Observatory: instrumentation and online systems
journal, March 2017


Status of GADZOOKS!: Neutron Tagging in Super-Kamiokande
journal, April 2016


Energy reconstruction methods in the IceCube neutrino telescope
journal, March 2014


A Combined Maximum-Likelihood Analysis of the High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrino flux Measured with Icecube
journal, August 2015


A Heitler model of extensive air showers
journal, January 2005


Antineutrino Spectroscopy with Large Water Čerenkov Detectors
journal, October 2004


Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector
journal, November 2013


Measuring flavor ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos
journal, November 2003


KM3NeT: Towards a km3 Mediterranean neutrino telescope
journal, November 2006

  • Katz, U. F.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 567, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2006.05.235

Cosmic neutrino cascades from secret neutrino interactions
journal, September 2014


Determination of the neutrino flavor ratio at the astrophysical source
journal, November 2009


The FLUKA code: description and benchmarking
conference, January 2007

  • Battistoni, G.; Cerutti, F.; Fassò, A.
  • HADRONIC SHOWER SIMULATION WORKSHOP, AIP Conference Proceedings
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2720455

Energy-independent new physics in the flavour ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos
journal, April 2010

  • Bustamante, M.; Gago, A. M.; Peña-Garay, C.
  • Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2010, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2010)066

Erratum: Measuring flavor ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos [Phys. Rev. D 68, 093005 (2003)]
journal, July 2005


Analysis of the 4-year IceCube high-energy starting events
journal, July 2016


Aspects of the flavor triangle for cosmic neutrino propagation
journal, March 2015


The performance of photomultipliers exposed to helium
journal, June 1988

  • Incandela, J. R.; Ahlen, S. P.; Beatty, J.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 269, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1016/0168-9002(88)90885-6

Double pulses and cascades above 2 PeV in IceCube
journal, January 2016


Current status of the BAIKAL-GVD project
journal, October 2013

  • Avrorin, A. V.; Aynutdinov, V. M.; Belolaptikov, I. A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 725
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2012.11.151

Neutrino observatories can characterize cosmic sources and neutrino properties
journal, April 2003


Flavor composition of ultrahigh energy neutrinos at source and at neutrino telescopes
journal, December 2009


Concepts of “age” and “universality” in cosmic ray showers
journal, March 2009


Decay of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos
journal, May 2003


Neutrino decays over cosmological distances and the implications for neutrino telescopes
journal, October 2012

  • Baerwald, Philipp; Bustamante, Mauricio; Winter, Walter
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2012, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2012/10/020

Observation of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data
journal, September 2014


Spectral analysis of the high-energy IceCube neutrinos
journal, May 2015


Flavor Composition of the High-Energy Neutrino Events in IceCube
journal, August 2014


What is the Flavor of the Cosmic Neutrinos Seen by IceCube?
journal, April 2015


Astrophysical tau neutrino detection in kilometer-scale Cherenkov detectors via muonic tau decay
journal, April 2007


First measurement of radioactive isotope production through cosmic-ray muon spallation in Super-Kamiokande IV
journal, January 2016


Neutrinos as a diagnostic of high energy astrophysical processes
journal, August 2005


Production of radioactive isotopes through cosmic muon spallation in KamLAND
journal, February 2010


Determination of the initial flavor composition of ultrahigh-energy neutrino fluxes with neutrino telescopes
journal, July 2006


Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube
journal, August 2015


The natural parameterization of cosmic neutrino oscillations
journal, September 2015


Resonant Scattering of Antineutrinos
journal, April 1960


Ultrahigh-energy neutrino interactions
journal, August 1996


Two-component flux explanation for the high energy neutrino events at IceCube
journal, October 2015


Shower power: isolating the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux using electron neutrinos
journal, November 2004


The Glashow resonance at IceCube: signatures, event rates and pp vs. p γ interactions
journal, October 2011

  • Bhattacharya, Atri; Gandhi, Raj; Rodejohann, Werner
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2011/10/017

Search for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube data
journal, January 2016


Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0
journal, June 2016

  • Adrián-Martínez, S.; Ageron, M.; Aharonian, F.
  • Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, Vol. 43, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1088/0954-3899/43/8/084001

SUSY renormalization group effects in ultra high energy neutrinos
journal, May 2011

  • Bustamante, M.; Gago, A. M.; Pérez, J. Jones
  • Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1007/JHEP05(2011)133

Demystifying the PeV cascades in IceCube: Less (energy) is more (events)
journal, August 2013


High Energy Astrophysical Neutrino flux and Modified Dispersion Relations
journal, December 2009

  • Bazo, J. L.; Bustamante, M.; Gago, A. M.
  • International Journal of Modern Physics A, Vol. 24, Issue 31
  • DOI: 10.1142/S0217751X09047429

Tagging spallation backgrounds with showers in water Cherenkov detectors
journal, November 2015


Cosmogenic Backgrounds in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth
journal, August 2013


Calibration and characterization of the IceCube photomultiplier tube
journal, June 2010

  • Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.; Abu-Zayyad, T.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 618, Issue 1-3
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2010.03.102

Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 59-string configuration
journal, March 2014


Suppression of afterpulsing in photomultipliers by gating the photocathode
journal, January 2002


Neutrino interactions at ultrahigh energies
journal, September 1998


Theoretically Palatable Flavor Combinations of Astrophysical Neutrinos
journal, October 2015


Effect of New Physics in Astrophysical Neutrino Flavor
journal, October 2015


First Observation of PeV-Energy Neutrinos with IceCube
journal, July 2013


Sensitivity to θ 13 and δ in the decaying astrophysical neutrino scenario
journal, January 2004


Flavor ratios of astrophysical neutrinos: implications for precision measurements
journal, February 2008


Standard model explanation of the ultrahigh energy neutrino events at IceCube
journal, February 2014


Constraining astrophysical neutrino flavor composition from leptonic unitarity
journal, December 2014

  • Xu, Xun-Jie; He, Hong-Jian; Rodejohann, Werner
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2014/12/039

Spallation backgrounds in Super-Kamiokande are made in muon-induced showers
journal, May 2015


Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos: A Challenge for Neutrino Telescopes
journal, January 2004


Detecting ντ oscillations at PeV energies
journal, May 1995


Universality of cosmic ray shower development
journal, December 2009


First calculation of cosmic-ray muon spallation backgrounds for MeV astrophysical neutrino signals in Super-Kamiokande
journal, April 2014


A Combined Maximum-Likelihood Analysis of the High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrino Flux Measured with IceCube
text, January 2015

  • Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2016-00281

Theoretically Palatable Flavor Combinations of Astrophysical Neutrinos
text, January 2015

  • Bustamante, Mauricio; Beacom, John F.; Winter, Walter
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2015-04218

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory: instrumentation and online systems
text, January 2017

  • Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2017-01470

Review of Particle Physics
text, January 2008


Resonant Scattering of Antineutrinos
journal, December 1960


First measurement of radioactive isotope production through cosmic-ray muon spallation in Super-Kamiokande IV
conference, April 2017

  • Chen, Shaomin; Zhang, Yang
  • Proceedings of 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics — PoS(ICHEP2016)
  • DOI: 10.22323/1.282.1014

Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector
text, January 2013


First Observation of PeV-Energy Neutrinos with IceCube
text, January 2013

  • Aartsen, M. G.; Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/desy-2014-01302

Theoretically palatable flavor combinations of astrophysical neutrinos
text, January 2015

  • Bustamante, Mauricio; Beacom, John F.; Winter, Walter
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2015-03689

Review of Particle Physics
text, January 2018


Production of radioactive isotopes through cosmic muon spallation in KamLAND
text, January 2010

  • K., Nakamura,; F., Piquemal,; T., Bloxham,
  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
  • DOI: 10.17615/d49a-ay54

Review of Particle Physics
text, January 2012

  • Beringer, J.; Arguin, J.; Barnett, R.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/phppubdb-24149

Flavor Ratios of Astrophysical Neutrinos: Implications for Precision Measurements
text, January 2007


High energy astrophysical neutrino flux and modified dispersion relations
text, January 2009


New Sensitivity to Solar WIMP Annihilation using Low-Energy Neutrinos
text, January 2012


Neutrino Decays over Cosmological Distances and the Implications for Neutrino Telescopes
text, January 2012


Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector
text, January 2013


Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 59-string configuration
text, January 2013


On the flavor composition of the high-energy neutrino events in IceCube
text, January 2014


Observation of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data
text, January 2014


Spectral analysis of the high-energy IceCube neutrinos
text, January 2015


The natural parametrization of cosmic neutrino oscillations
text, January 2015


Search for Astrophysical Tau Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data
text, January 2015


Analysis of the 4-year IceCube high-energy starting events
text, January 2016


Measuring Flavor Ratios of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos
text, January 2003


Neutrinos as a Diagnostic of High Energy Astrophysical Processes
text, January 2004


Neutrino Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies
text, January 1998


Astrophysical tau neutrino detection in kilometer-scale Cherenkov detectors via muonic tau decay
journal, April 2007


An analysis of cosmic neutrinos: Flavor composition at source and neutrino mixing parameters
journal, November 2009


Neutrino decays over cosmological distances and the implications for neutrino telescopes
journal, October 2012

  • Baerwald, Philipp; Bustamante, Mauricio; Winter, Walter
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2012, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2012/10/020

The natural parameterization of cosmic neutrino oscillations
journal, September 2015


Theoretically Palatable Flavor Combinations of Astrophysical Neutrinos
text, January 2015

  • Bustamante, Mauricio; Beacom, John F.; Winter, Walter
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2015-04218

Flavor Ratios of Astrophysical Neutrinos: Implications for Precision Measurements
text, January 2007


Flavor Composition of UHE Neutrinos at Source and at Neutrino Telescopes
text, January 2009


Demystifying the PeV Cascades in IceCube: Less (Energy) is More (Events)
text, January 2013


Double pulses and cascades above 2 PeV in IceCube
text, January 2015


Effects of neutrino mixing on high-energy cosmic neutrino flux
text, January 2000


Works referencing / citing this record:

Strong constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions: LHC vs. IceCube
journal, November 2019

  • Pandey, Sujata; Karmakar, Siddhartha; Rakshit, Subhendu
  • Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1007/jhep11(2019)046

Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
journal, June 2019

  • Alves Batista, Rafael; Biteau, Jonathan; Bustamante, Mauricio
  • Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, Vol. 6
  • DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2019.00023

Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
text, January 2019


Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
text, January 2019

  • Alves Batista, Rafael; Biteau, Jonathan; Bustamante, Mauricio
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2019-02725

Strong constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions: LHC vs. IceCube
text, January 2019