Tau energy losses at ultrahigh energy: Continuous versus stochastic treatment

Blanch-Bigas, O.; Deligny, O.; Payet, K.; Elewyck, V. Van

doi:10.1103/physrevd.77.103004

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Electromagnetic energy loss by charged leptons in transit through materials comes from ionization, bremsstrahlung, electron-positron pair production and photonuclear interactions [32,[87][88][89][90][91][92][93]. The average energy loss per unit column depth X for a charged lepton , here with = τ , is written At high energies, the ionization loss characterized by a τ is small.…”

Section: Tau Propagationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmic tau neutrino detection via Cherenkov signals from air showers from Earth-emerging taus

2019

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We perform a new, detailed calculation of the flux and energy spectrum of Earth-emerging τleptons generated from the interactions of tau neutrinos and antineutrinos in the Earth. A layered model of the Earth is used to describe the variable density profile of the Earth. Different assumptions regarding the neutrino charged-and neutral-current cross sections as well as the τ -lepton energy loss models are used to quantify their contributions to the systematic uncertainty. A baseline simulation is then used to generate the optical Cherenkov signal from upward-moving extensive air showers generated by the τ -lepton decay in the atmosphere, applicable to a range of space-based instruments. We use this simulation to determine the neutrino sensitivity for Eν ∼ > 10 PeV for a space-based experiment with performance similar to that for the Probe of Extreme MultiMessenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) mission currently under study.

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Section: Tau Propagationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmic tau neutrino detection via Cherenkov signals from air showers from Earth-emerging taus

2019

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“…Among the uncertainties in these tau neutrino flux limits or eventual observation are three elements: the uncertainty in the high energy neutrino cross section [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] required to convert the tau neutrino to the tau lepton in the Earth, the inelasticity for neutrino scattering with isoscalar nucleons (how much of the neutrino energy is transferred to the tau) and the tau electromagnetic loss [30][31][32][33][34][35] as the tau transits the remaining rock before it emerges to decay into an air shower.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tau energy loss is through electromagnetic interactions via ionization, bremsstrahlung, pair production and photonuclear interactions, e.g., see Refs. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. At high energies, the ionization energy loss is negligible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our second goal is to provide a semi-analytic approximation to the stochastic evaluation of first, the neutrino interaction, then the tau energy loss in matter. Uncertainties from a continuous versus stochastic treatment of the tau energy loss are discussed here (see also [34]). We examine the impact of stochastic versus approximate treatments of the neutrino interaction itself as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tau energy loss and ultrahigh energy skimming tau neutrinos

et al. 2017

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We consider propagation of high-energy earth-skimming taus produced in interactions of astrophysical tau neutrinos. For astrophysical tau neutrinos, we take generic power-law flux, E −2 and the cosmogenic flux initiated by the protons. We calculate tau energy loss in several approaches, such as dipole models and the phenomenological approach in which parametrization of the F 2 is used. We evaluate the tau neutrino charged-current cross section using the same approaches for consistency. We find that uncertainty in the neutrino cross section and in the tau energy loss partially compensate giving very small theoretical uncertainty in the emerging tau flux for distances ranging from 2 to 100 km and for the energy range between 10 6 and 10 11 GeV, focusing on energies above 10 8 GeV. When we consider uncertainties in the neutrino cross section, inelasticity in neutrino interactions and the tau energy loss, which are not correlated, i.e. they are not all calculated in the same approach, theoretical uncertainty ranges from about 30% and 60% at 10 8 GeV to about factors of 3.3 and 3.8 at 10 11 GeV for the E −2 flux and the cosmogenic flux, respectively, for the distance of 10 km rock. The spread in predictions significantly increases for much larger distances, e.g., ∼1; 000 km. Most of the uncertainty comes from the treatment of photonuclear interactions of the tau in transit through large distances. We also consider Monte Carlo calculation of the tau propagation and we find that the result for the emerging tau flux is in agreement with the result obtained using analytic approach. Our results are relevant to several experiments that are looking for skimming astrophysical taus, such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, HAWC and Ashra. We evaluate the aperture for the Auger and discuss briefly application to the other two experiments.

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“…Based on that, systematic uncertainties of +20% −5% are quoted as due to the Monte Carlo simulation of both the EAS and the detector, the former being the main contribution 1 . The simulations of the interactions inside the Earth have been extensively checked by comparison with an analytical calculation [51], an iterative solution of the transport equations [52], and several independent simulations. The uncertainty associated to the simulation process itself is expected to be below the 5 % level.…”

Section: Systematic Uncertaintiesmentioning

confidence: 99%