Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

J Abraham; P Abreu; M Aglietta; C Aguirre; D Allard; I Allekotte; J Allen; P Allison; J Alvarez-Muñiz; M Ambrosio; L Anchordoqui; S Andringa; A Anzalone; C Aramo; S Argirò; K Arisaka; E Armengaud; F Arneodo; F Arqueros; T Asch; H Asorey; P Assis; B S Atulugama; J Aublin; M Ave; G Avila; T Bäcker; D Badagnani; A F Barbosa; D Barnhill; S L C Barroso; P Bauleo; J J Beatty; T Beau; B R Becker; K H Becker; J A Bellido; S BenZvi; C Berat; T Bergmann; P Bernardini; X Bertou; P L Biermann; P Billoir; O Blanch-Bigas; F Blanco; P Blasi; C Bleve; H Blümer; M Bohácová; C Bonifazi; R Bonino; M Boratav; J Brack; P Brogueira; W C Brown; P Buchholz; A Bueno; R E Burton; N G Busca; K S Caballero-Mora; B Cai; D V Camin; L Caramete; R Caruso; W Carvalho; A Castellina; O Catalano; G Cataldi; L Cazon; R Cester; J Chauvin; A Chiavassa; J A Chinellato; A Chou; J Chye; P D J Clark; R W Clay; E Colombo; R Conceição; B Connolly; F Contreras; J Coppens; A Cordier; U Cotti; S Coutu; C E Covault; A Creusot; A Criss; J Cronin; A Curutiu; S Dagoret-Campagne; K Daumiller; B R Dawson; R M de Almeida; C De Donato; S J de Jong; G De La Vega; W J M de Mello Junior; J R T de Mello Neto; I DeMitri; V de Souza; L del Peral; O Deligny; A Della Selva; C Delle Fratte; H Dembinski; C Di Giulio; J C Diaz; C Dobrigkeit; J C D'Olivo; D Dornic; A Dorofeev; J C dos Anjos; M T Dova; D D'Urso; I Dutan; M A DuVernois; R Engel; L Epele; M Erdmann; C O Escobar; A Etchegoyen; P Facal San Luis; H Falcke; G Farrar; A C Fauth; N Fazzini; F Ferrer; S Ferry; B Fick; A Filevich; A Filipcic; I Fleck; R Fonte; C E Fracchiolla; W Fulgione; B García; D García Gámez; D Garcia-Pinto; X Garrido; H Geenen; G Gelmini; H Gemmeke; P L Ghia; M Giller; H Glass; M S Gold; G Golup; F Gomez Albarracin; M Gómez Berisso; R Gómez Herrero; P Gonçalves; M Gonçalves do Amaral; D Gonzalez; J G Gonzalez; M González; D Góra; A Gorgi; P Gouffon; V Grassi; A F Grillo; C Grunfeld; Y Guardincerri; F Guarino; G P Guedes; J Gutiérrez; J D Hague; J C Hamilton; P Hansen; D Harari; S Harmsma; J L Harton; A Haungs; T Hauschildt; M D Healy; T Hebbeker; G Hebrero; D Heck; C Hojvat; V C Holmes; P Homola; J Hörandel; A Horneffer; M Horvat; M Hrabovský; T Huege; M Hussain; M Iarlori; A Insolia; F Ionita; A Italiano; M Kaducak; K H Kampert; T Karova; B Kégl; B Keilhauer; E Kemp; R M Kieckhafer; H O Klages; M Kleifges; J Kleinfeller; R Knapik; J Knapp; D-H Koang; A Krieger; O Krömer; D Kuempel; N Kunka; A Kusenko; G La Rosa; C Lachaud; B L Lago; D Lebrun; P Lebrun; J Lee; M A Leigui de Oliveira; A Letessier-Selvon; M Leuthold; I Lhenry-Yvon; R López; A Lopez Agüera; J Lozano Bahilo; R Luna García; M C Maccarone; C Macolino; S Maldera; G Mancarella; M E Manceñido; D Mandat; P Mantsch; A G Mariazzi; I C Maris; H R Marquez Falcon; D Martello; J Martínez; O Martínez Bravo; H J Mathes; J Matthews; J A J Matthews; G Matthiae; D Maurizio; P O Mazur; T McCauley; M McEwen; R R McNeil; M C Medina; G Medina-Tanco; A Meli; D Melo; E Menichetti; A Menschikov; Chr Meurer; 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I Rodriguez-Cabo; G Ros; J Rosado; M Roth; B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil; E Roulet; A C Rovero; F Salamida; H Salazar; G Salina; F Sánchez; M Santander; C E Santo; E M Santos; F Sarazin; S Sarkar; R Sato; V Scherini; H Schieler; A Schmidt; F Schmidt; T Schmidt; O Scholten; P Schovánek; F Schüssler; S J Sciutto; M Scuderi; A Segreto; D Semikoz; M Settimo; R C Shellard; I Sidelnik; B B Siffert; G Sigl; N Smetniansky De Grande; A Smiałkowski; R Smída; A G K Smith; B E Smith; G R Snow; P Sokolsky; P Sommers; J Sorokin; H Spinka; R Squartini; E Strazzeri; A Stutz; F Suarez; T Suomijärvi; A D Supanitsky; M S Sutherland; J Swain; Z Szadkowski; J Takahashi; A Tamashiro; A Tamburro; O Taşcău; R Tcaciuc; D Thomas; R Ticona; J Tiffenberg; C Timmermans; W Tkaczyk; C J Todero Peixoto; B Tomé; A Tonachini; I Torres; D Torresi; P Travnicek; A Tripathi; G Tristram; D Tscherniakhovski; M Tueros; V Tunnicliffe; R Ulrich; M Unger; M Urban; J F Valdés Galicia; I Valiño; L Valore; A M van den Berg; V van Elewyck; R A Vázquez; D Veberic; A Veiga; A Velarde; T Venters; V Verzi; M Videla; L Villaseñor; S Vorobiov; L Voyvodic; H Wahlberg; O Wainberg; P Walker; D Warner; A A Watson; S Westerhoff; G Wieczorek; L Wiencke; B Wilczyńska; H Wilczyński; C Wileman; M G Winnick; H Wu; B Wundheiler; T Yamamoto; P Younk; E Zas; D Zavrtanik; M Zavrtanik; A Zech; A Zepeda; M Ziolkowski; Pierre Auger Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.211101

Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 May 30;100(21):211101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.211101. Epub 2008 May 27.

Authors

J Abraham¹, P Abreu, M Aglietta, C Aguirre, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, J Alvarez-Muñiz, M Ambrosio, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, A Anzalone, C Aramo, S Argirò, K Arisaka, E Armengaud, F Arneodo, F Arqueros, T Asch, H Asorey, P Assis, B S Atulugama, J Aublin, M Ave, G Avila, T Bäcker, D Badagnani, A F Barbosa, D Barnhill, S L C Barroso, P Bauleo, J J Beatty, T Beau, B R Becker, K H Becker, J A Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, T Bergmann, P Bernardini, X Bertou, P L Biermann, P Billoir, O Blanch-Bigas, F Blanco, P Blasi, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Bohácová, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, M Boratav, J Brack, P Brogueira, W C Brown, P Buchholz, A Bueno, R E Burton, N G Busca, K S Caballero-Mora, B Cai, D V Camin, L Caramete, R Caruso, W Carvalho, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, A Chiavassa, J A Chinellato, A Chou, J Chye, P D J Clark, R W Clay, E Colombo, R Conceição, B Connolly, F Contreras, J Coppens, A Cordier, U Cotti, S Coutu, C E Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, K Daumiller, B R Dawson, R M de Almeida, C De Donato, S J de Jong, G De La Vega, W J M de Mello Junior, J R T de Mello Neto, I DeMitri, V de Souza, L del Peral, O Deligny, A Della Selva, C Delle Fratte, H Dembinski, C Di Giulio, J C Diaz, C Dobrigkeit, J C D'Olivo, D Dornic, A Dorofeev, J C dos Anjos, M T Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, M A DuVernois, R Engel, L Epele, M Erdmann, C O Escobar, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, H Falcke, G Farrar, A C Fauth, N Fazzini, F Ferrer, S Ferry, B Fick, A Filevich, A Filipcic, I Fleck, R Fonte, C E Fracchiolla, W Fulgione, B García, D García Gámez, D Garcia-Pinto, X Garrido, H Geenen, G Gelmini, H Gemmeke, P L Ghia, M Giller, H Glass, M S Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, R Gómez Herrero, P Gonçalves, M Gonçalves do Amaral, D Gonzalez, J G Gonzalez, M González, D Góra, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, V Grassi, A F Grillo, C Grunfeld, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, G P Guedes, J Gutiérrez, J D Hague, J C Hamilton, P Hansen, D Harari, S Harmsma, J L Harton, A Haungs, T Hauschildt, M D Healy, T Hebbeker, G Hebrero, D Heck, C Hojvat, V C Holmes, P Homola, J Hörandel, A Horneffer, M Horvat, M Hrabovský, T Huege, M Hussain, M Iarlori, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, M Kaducak, K H Kampert, T Karova, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, E Kemp, R M Kieckhafer, H O Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, R Knapik, J Knapp, D-H Koang, A Krieger, O Krömer, D Kuempel, N Kunka, A Kusenko, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, B L Lago, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, J Lee, M A Leigui de Oliveira, A Letessier-Selvon, M Leuthold, I Lhenry-Yvon, R López, A Lopez Agüera, J Lozano Bahilo, R Luna García, M C Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, G Mancarella, M E Manceñido, D Mandat, P Mantsch, A G Mariazzi, I C Maris, H R Marquez Falcon, D Martello, J Martínez, O Martínez Bravo, H J Mathes, J Matthews, J A J Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurizio, P O Mazur, T McCauley, M McEwen, R R McNeil, M C Medina, G Medina-Tanco, A Meli, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menschikov, Chr Meurer, R Meyhandan, M I Micheletti, G Miele, W Miller, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, J C Moreno, C Morris, M Mostafá, M A Muller, R Mussa, G Navarra, J L Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, C Newman-Holmes, D Newton, T Nguyen Thi, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nozka, J Oehlschläger, T Ohnuki, A Olinto, V M Olmos-Gilbaja, M Ortiz, F Ortolani, S Ostapchenko, L Otero, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, G Parente, E Parizot, S Parlati, S Pastor, M Patel, T Paul, V Pavlidou, K Payet, M Pech, J Pekala, R Pelayo, I M Pepe, L Perrone, S Petrera, P Petrinca, Y Petrov, Diep Pham Ngoc, Dong Pham Ngoc, T N Pham Thi, A Pichel, R Piegaia, T Pierog, M Pimenta, T Pinto, V Pirronello, O Pisanti, M Platino, J Pochon, P Privitera, M Prouza, E J Quel, J Rautenberg, A Redondo, S Reucroft, B Revenu, F A S Rezende, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, C Rivière, V Rizi, M Roberts, C Robledo, G Rodriguez, D Rodríguez Frías, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, I Rodriguez-Cabo, G Ros, J Rosado, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, A C Rovero, F Salamida, H Salazar, G Salina, F Sánchez, M Santander, C E Santo, E M Santos, F Sarazin, S Sarkar, R Sato, V Scherini, H Schieler, A Schmidt, F Schmidt, T Schmidt, O Scholten, P Schovánek, F Schüssler, S J Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, D Semikoz, M Settimo, R C Shellard, I Sidelnik, B B Siffert, G Sigl, N Smetniansky De Grande, A Smiałkowski, R Smída, A G K Smith, B E Smith, G R Snow, P Sokolsky, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, E Strazzeri, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, A D Supanitsky, M S Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, J Takahashi, A Tamashiro, A Tamburro, O Taşcău, R Tcaciuc, D Thomas, R Ticona, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, W Tkaczyk, C J Todero Peixoto, B Tomé, A Tonachini, I Torres, D Torresi, P Travnicek, A Tripathi, G Tristram, D Tscherniakhovski, M Tueros, V Tunnicliffe, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, J F Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, A M van den Berg, V van Elewyck, R A Vázquez, D Veberic, A Veiga, A Velarde, T Venters, V Verzi, M Videla, L Villaseñor, S Vorobiov, L Voyvodic, H Wahlberg, O Wainberg, P Walker, D Warner, A A Watson, S Westerhoff, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, C Wileman, M G Winnick, H Wu, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, P Younk, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, A Zech, A Zepeda, M Ziolkowski; Pierre Auger Collaboration

Affiliation

¹ Centro de Investigaciones en Laseres y Aplicaciones, CITEFA and CONICET, Argentina.

PMID: 18518595
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.211101

Abstract

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth's crust. Tau leptons from nu(tau) charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of nu(tau) at EeV energies. Assuming an E(nu)(-2) differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E(nu)(2)dN(nu)(tau)/dE(nu)<1.3 x 10(-7) GeV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) in the energy range 2 x 10(17) eV< E(nu)< 2 x 10(19) eV.