Inferring the flavor of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos at their sources

TY - JOUR

T1 - Inferring the flavor of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos at their sources

AU - Bustamante, Mauricio

AU - Ahlers, Markus

N1 - 5 pages, 3 figures, technical appendices. Matches published version

PY - 2019/6/20

Y1 - 2019/6/20

N2 - The sources and production mechanisms of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos are largely unknown. A promising opportunity for progress lies in the study of neutrino flavor composition, i.e., the proportion of each flavor in the flux of neutrinos, which reflects the physical conditions at the sources. To seize it, we introduce a Bayesian method that infers the flavor composition at the neutrino sources based on the flavor composition measured at Earth. We find that the present data from the IceCube neutrino telescope favor neutrino production via the decay of high-energy pions and rule out production via the decay of neutrons. In the future, improved measurements of flavor composition and mixing parameters may single out the production mechanism with high significance.

AB - The sources and production mechanisms of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos are largely unknown. A promising opportunity for progress lies in the study of neutrino flavor composition, i.e., the proportion of each flavor in the flux of neutrinos, which reflects the physical conditions at the sources. To seize it, we introduce a Bayesian method that infers the flavor composition at the neutrino sources based on the flavor composition measured at Earth. We find that the present data from the IceCube neutrino telescope favor neutrino production via the decay of high-energy pions and rule out production via the decay of neutrons. In the future, improved measurements of flavor composition and mixing parameters may single out the production mechanism with high significance.

KW - astro-ph.HE

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.241101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.241101

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31322385

SN - 0031-9007

VL - 122

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

M1 - 241101

ER -