Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube

M.G. Aartsen; M. Ackermann; J. Adams; J.A. Aguilar; M. Ahlers; M. Ahrens; D. Altmann; T. Anderson; C. Arguelles; T.C. Arlen; David Jason Koskinen; Michael James Larson; Morten Ankersen Medici; Subir Sarkar; Michael Marc Wolf

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.114.171102

Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube

M.G. Aartsen, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J.A. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, T. Anderson, C. Arguelles, T.C. Arlen, David Jason Koskinen, Michael James Larson, Morten Ankersen Medici, Subir Sarkar, Michael Marc Wolf

153 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos above 100 TeV has been observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Here we extend this analysis to probe the astrophysical flux down to 35 TeV and analyze its flavor composition by classifying events as showers or tracks. Taking advantage of lower atmospheric backgrounds for showerlike events, we obtain a shower-biased sample containing 129 showers and 8 tracks collected in three years from 2010 to 2013. We demonstrate consistency with the (fe fμ fτ) ≈(1 1 1) flavor ratio at Earth commonly expected from the averaged oscillations of neutrinos produced by pion decay in distant astrophysical sources. Limits are placed on nonstandard flavor compositions that cannot be produced by averaged neutrino oscillations but could arise in exotic physics scenarios. A maximally tracklike composition of (0 1 0) is excluded at 3.3σ, and a purely showerlike composition of (1 0 0) is excluded at 2.3σ.

Original language	English
Article number	171102
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	114
Issue number	17
ISSN	0031-9007
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.171102
Publication status	Published - 28 Apr 2015

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Aartsen, M. G., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J. A., Ahlers, M., Ahrens, M., Altmann, D., Anderson, T., Arguelles, C., Arlen, T. C., Koskinen, D. J., Larson, M. J., Medici, M. A., Sarkar, S., & Wolf, M. M. (2015). Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube. Physical Review Letters, 114(17), [171102]. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.171102

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title = "Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube",

abstract = "A diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos above 100 TeV has been observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Here we extend this analysis to probe the astrophysical flux down to 35 TeV and analyze its flavor composition by classifying events as showers or tracks. Taking advantage of lower atmospheric backgrounds for showerlike events, we obtain a shower-biased sample containing 129 showers and 8 tracks collected in three years from 2010 to 2013. We demonstrate consistency with the (fe fμ fτ) ≈(1 1 1) flavor ratio at Earth commonly expected from the averaged oscillations of neutrinos produced by pion decay in distant astrophysical sources. Limits are placed on nonstandard flavor compositions that cannot be produced by averaged neutrino oscillations but could arise in exotic physics scenarios. A maximally tracklike composition of (0 1 0) is excluded at 3.3σ, and a purely showerlike composition of (1 0 0) is excluded at 2.3σ.",

author = "M.G. Aartsen and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J.A. Aguilar and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and D. Altmann and T. Anderson and C. Arguelles and T.C. Arlen and Koskinen, {David Jason} and Larson, {Michael James} and Medici, {Morten Ankersen} and Subir Sarkar and Wolf, {Michael Marc}",

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T1 - Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube

AU - Aartsen, M.G.

AU - Ackermann, M.

AU - Adams, J.

AU - Aguilar, J.A.

AU - Ahlers, M.

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Altmann, D.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Arguelles, C.

AU - Arlen, T.C.

AU - Koskinen, David Jason

AU - Larson, Michael James

AU - Medici, Morten Ankersen

AU - Sarkar, Subir

AU - Wolf, Michael Marc

PY - 2015/4/28

Y1 - 2015/4/28

N2 - A diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos above 100 TeV has been observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Here we extend this analysis to probe the astrophysical flux down to 35 TeV and analyze its flavor composition by classifying events as showers or tracks. Taking advantage of lower atmospheric backgrounds for showerlike events, we obtain a shower-biased sample containing 129 showers and 8 tracks collected in three years from 2010 to 2013. We demonstrate consistency with the (fe fμ fτ) ≈(1 1 1) flavor ratio at Earth commonly expected from the averaged oscillations of neutrinos produced by pion decay in distant astrophysical sources. Limits are placed on nonstandard flavor compositions that cannot be produced by averaged neutrino oscillations but could arise in exotic physics scenarios. A maximally tracklike composition of (0 1 0) is excluded at 3.3σ, and a purely showerlike composition of (1 0 0) is excluded at 2.3σ.

AB - A diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos above 100 TeV has been observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Here we extend this analysis to probe the astrophysical flux down to 35 TeV and analyze its flavor composition by classifying events as showers or tracks. Taking advantage of lower atmospheric backgrounds for showerlike events, we obtain a shower-biased sample containing 129 showers and 8 tracks collected in three years from 2010 to 2013. We demonstrate consistency with the (fe fμ fτ) ≈(1 1 1) flavor ratio at Earth commonly expected from the averaged oscillations of neutrinos produced by pion decay in distant astrophysical sources. Limits are placed on nonstandard flavor compositions that cannot be produced by averaged neutrino oscillations but could arise in exotic physics scenarios. A maximally tracklike composition of (0 1 0) is excluded at 3.3σ, and a purely showerlike composition of (1 0 0) is excluded at 2.3σ.

U2 - 10.1103/physrevlett.114.171102

DO - 10.1103/physrevlett.114.171102

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0031-9007

VL - 114

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

IS - 17

M1 - 171102

ER -

Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube

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