Upward shower rates at neutrino telescopes directly determine the neutrino flux

Abstract

We show that the rate for upward showers from an isotropic cosmic neutrino flux at neutrino telescopes like IceCube is independent of the neutrino-nucleon cross section. For bins that span a relatively narrow range in energy, neither scaling the cross section, nor changing its power-law energy behavior affects the upward shower rate, which depends only on the flux. The neutrino flux can be completely known since its spectral shape can be determined by comparing the rates in neighboring bins. We also show that the downward shower rate varies linearly with cross section with a proportionality constant determined by the energy-dependence of the cross section, independent of the power-law behavior of the flux. The normalization and energy dependence of the cross section can be known by comparing the downward rates in neighboring bins.

arXiv comment4 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Version to appear in PRD

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• IceCube-Gen2: The Window to the Extreme Universe
• Calculation of High Energy Neutrino-Nucleon Cross Sections and Uncertainties Using the MSTW Parton Distribution Functions and Implications for Future Experiments
• Extracting the Energy-Dependent Neutrino-Nucleon Cross Section Above 10 TeV Using IceCube Showers
• The ultra-high-energy neutrino-nucleon cross section: measurement forecasts for an era of cosmic EeV-neutrino discovery
• New physics with ultra-high-energy neutrinos
• Detector Requirements for Model-Independent Measurements of Ultrahigh Energy Neutrino Cross Sections