Neutrino diagnostics of ultra-high energy cosmic ray protons

Abstract

The energy at which cosmic rays from extra-galactic sources begin to dominate over those from galactic sources is an important open question in astroparticle physics. A natural candidate is the energy at the 'ankle' in the approximately power-law energy spectrum which is indicative of a cross-over from a falling galactic component to a flatter extra-galactic component. The transition can occur without such flattening but this requires some degree of conspiracy of the spectral shapes and normalizations of the two components. Nevertheless it has been argued that extra-galactic sources of cosmic ray protons which undergo interactions on the CMB can reproduce the energy spectrum below the ankle if the cross-over energy is as low as the 'second knee' in the spectrum. This low cross-over model is constrained by direct measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory which indicate a heavier composition at these energies. We demonstrate that upper limits on the cosmic diffuse neutrino flux provide a complementary constraint on the proton fraction in ultra-high energy extra-galactic cosmic rays and forthcoming data from IceCube will provide a definitive test of this model.

12 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PRD

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• Cosmogenic Neutrinos: parameter space and detectabilty from PeV to ZeV
• GZK Neutrinos after the Fermi-LAT Diffuse Photon Flux Measurement
• Cosmic neutrino cascades from secret neutrino interactions
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays
• Cosmic Neutrino Pevatrons: A Brand New Pathway to Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Particle Physics
• Extragalactic propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic-rays
• A new view on Auger data and cosmogenic neutrinos in light of different nuclear disintegration and air-shower models
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• Gamma-Ray Constraints on Maximum Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes and UHECR Source Evolution Models
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• Strange fireball as an explanation of the muon excess in Auger data
• Constraints on the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from cosmogenic neutrinos and photons
• Cosmic PeV Neutrinos and the Sources of Ultrahigh Energy Protons
• Search for Extremely-High-Energy Neutrinos and First Constraints on the Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Proton Fraction with IceCube
• Constraining models for the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with a novel combined analysis of arrival directions, spectrum, and composition data measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Constraints on the origin of the ultra-high energy cosmic-rays using cosmic diffuse neutrino flux limits: An analytical approach
• Acceleration and propagation of ultra high energy cosmic rays
• Constraining the Emissivity of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays in the Distant Universe with the Diffuse Gamma-ray Emission
• Probing the Extragalactic Cosmic Rays origin with gamma-ray and neutrino backgrounds
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• Cosmic neutrino flux and spin flavor oscillations in intergalactic medium
• Analytic Solutions of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Nuclei Revisited
• The POEMMA (Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics) Observatory
• Ensemble Fluctuations of the Flux and Nuclear Composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Nuclei
• Selected Topics in Cosmic Ray Physics
• Feasibility of Determining Diffuse Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Neutrino Flavor Ratio through ARA Neutrino Observatory
• What is the nature and origin of the highest-energy particles in the universe?
• Extragalactic neutrino emission induced by Supermassive and Stellar Mass Black Hole mergers
• The Next-Generation Radio Neutrino Observatory -- Multi-Messenger Neutrino Astrophysics at Extreme Energies
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• A relook at the GZK Neutrino-Photon Connection: Impact of Extra-galactic Radio Background & UHECR properties
• Cosmogenic neutrinos as probes of new physics
• Escape and propagation of UHECR protons and neutrons from GRBs, and the cosmic ray-neutrino connection
• Current constraints from cosmogenic neutrinos on the fraction of protons in UHECRs
• Ultra high-energy cosmic rays from beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min horizon