Describing the Observed Cosmic Neutrinos by Interactions of Nuclei with Matter
arXiv:1407.7536 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.90.103003
Abstract
IceCube have observed neutrinos which are presumably of extra-galactic origin. Since specific sources have not yet been identified, we discuss what could be learned from the conceptual point of view. We use a simple model for neutrino production from the interactions between nuclei and matter, and we focus on the description of the spectral shape and flavor composition observed by IceCube. Our main parameters are spectral index, maximal energy, magnetic field, and composition of the accelerated nuclei. We show that a cutoff at PeV energies can be achieved by soft enough spectra, a cutoff of the primary energy, or strong enough magnetic fields. These options, however, are difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that these neutrinos originate from the same sources as the ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We demonstrate that heavier nuclei accelerated in the sources may be a possible way out if the maximal energy scales appropriately with the mass number of the nuclei. In this scenario, neutrino observations can actually be used to test the UHECR acceleration mechanism. We also emphasize the need for a volume upgrade of the IceCube detector for future precision physics, for which the flavor information becomes a statistical meaningful model discriminator as qualitatively new ingredient.
arXiv comment11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Several clarifications. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D
References in corpus (49)
- On the normalisation of the cosmic star formation history
- Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector
- Observation of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data
- Energy spectra of gamma-rays, electrons and neutrinos produced at proton-proton interactions in the very high energy regime
- First observation of PeV-energy neutrinos with IceCube
- Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10^18 eV
- The Spectrum of the Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission Derived From First-Year Fermi Large Area Telescope Data
- Global fit to three neutrino mixing: critical look at present precision
- Detecting Nutau Oscillations as PeV Energies
- Detecting Tau Neutrino Oscillations at PeV Energies
- Testing the Hadronuclear Origin of PeV Neutrinos Observed with IceCube
- Indications of Proton-Dominated Cosmic Ray Composition above 1.6 EeV
- The Cumulative Bakground of High-Energy Neutrinos from Starburst Galaxies
- Flavor Composition and Energy Spectrum of Astrophysical Neutrinos
- Flavoring Astrophysical Neutrinos: Flavor Ratios Depend on Energy
- Star-forming galaxies as the origin of diffuse high-energy backgrounds: Gamma-ray and neutrino connections, and implications for starburst history
- High Energy Neutrino Emission and Neutrino Background from Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Internal Shock Model
- Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube
- High-energy cosmic-ray nuclei from high- and low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts and implications for multi-messenger astronomy
- Neutrino Emission from Gamma-Ray Burst Fireballs, Revised
- Cosmic Neutrino Pevatrons: A Brand New Pathway to Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Particle Physics
- Revealing the Supernova--Gamma-Ray Burst Connection with TeV Neutrinos
- KM3NeT: Towards a km3 Mediterranean Neutrino Telescope
- Pinpointing Extragalactic Neutrino Sources in Light of Recent IceCube Observations
- TeV neutrinos from core collapse supernovae and hypernovae
- A Search for a Diffuse Flux of Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos with the IceCube 40-String Detector
- GRBs on probation: testing the UHE CR paradigm with IceCube
- On the flavor composition of the high-energy neutrino events in IceCube
- Magnetic field effects on neutrino production in microquasars
- Demystifying the PeV Cascades in IceCube: Less (Energy) is More (Events)
- Photohadronic Origin of the TeV-PeV Neutrinos Observed in IceCube
- Energy dependent neutrino flavor ratios from cosmic accelerators on the Hillas plot
- On the efficiency of Fermi acceleration at relativistic shocks
- Diffuse PeV neutrinos from EeV cosmic ray sources: semi-relativistic hypernova remnants in star-forming galaxies
- High-energy neutrinos from radio galaxies
- Reconciling the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum with Fermi shock acceleration
- What IceCube data tell us about neutrino emission from star-forming galaxies (so far)
- Are gamma-ray bursts the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays?
- Pinning down the cosmic ray source mechanism with new IceCube data
- Standard Model Explanation of the Ultra-high Energy Neutrino Events at IceCube
- Systematics in the Interpretation of Aggregated Neutrino Flux Limits and Flavor Ratios from Gamma-Ray Bursts
- The diffuse gamma-ray flux associated with sub-PeV/PeV neutrinos from starburst galaxies
- TeV gamma-rays and neutrinos from photo-disintegration of nuclei in Cygnus OB2
- High energy neutrino yields from astrophysical sources II: Magnetized sources
- High energy neutrinos from a slow jet model of core collapse supernovae
- Impact of Secondary Acceleration in Gamma-Ray Bursts
- Muon Acceleration in Cosmic-ray Sources
- Estimation of the neutrino flux and resulting constraints on hadronic emission models for Cyg X-3 using AGILE data
- A two-zone approach to neutrino production in gamma-ray bursts
Cited by in corpus (20)
- Theoretically palatable flavor combinations of astrophysical neutrinos
- Spectral analysis of the high-energy IceCube neutrinos
- A Possible Two-component Flux for the High Energy Neutrino Events at IceCube
- High-energy gamma-ray and neutrino backgrounds from clusters of galaxies and radio constraints
- Analysis of the 4-year IceCube high-energy starting events
- Update on decaying and annihilating heavy dark matter with the 6-year IceCube HESE data
- Sterile Neutrinos and Flavor Ratios in IceCube
- High-energy neutrino fluxes and flavor ratio in the Earth's atmosphere
- Non-standard neutrino interactions in the Earth and the flavor of astrophysical neutrinos
- Star-forming galaxies as the origin of the IceCube PeV neutrinos
- Probing decaying heavy dark matter with the 4-year IceCube HESE data
- Boosted Dark Matter and its implications for the features in IceCube HESE data
- Multi-PeV Signals from a New Astrophysical Neutrino Flux Beyond the Glashow Resonance
- Energy-Dependent Neutrino Mixing Parameters at Oscillation Experiments
- Constraining the Mass Scale of a Lorentz-Violating Hamiltonian with the Measurement of Astrophysical Neutrino-Flavor Composition
- The spectrum and flavor composition of the astrophysical neutrinos in IceCube
- Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos and Relic Neutrino Matter Effect on the High-energy Neutrino Flavor Composition
- Constraining the pseudo-Dirac nature of neutrinos using astrophysical neutrino flavor data
- Flavor Matters, but Matter Flavors: Matter Effects on Flavor Composition of Astrophysical Neutrinos
- Spread Complexity of High Energy Neutrino Propagation over Astrophysical Distances