Neutrino events within muon bundles at neutrino telescopes

The atmospheric neutrino flux includes a component from the prompt decay of charmed hadrons that becomes significant only at E >= 10 TeV. At these energies, however, the diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos discovered by IceCube seems to be larger than the atmospheric one. Here we study the possibility to detect a neutrino interaction in down-going atmospheric events at km3 telescopes. The neutrino signal will always appear together with a muon bundle that reveals its atmospheric origin and, generically, it implies an increase in the detector activity with the slant depth. We propose a simple algorithm that could separate these events from regular muon bundles.

Automated summary

This study investigates the possibility of detecting neutrino interactions in down-going atmospheric events at km3 telescopes and proposes a simple algorithm to separate these events. The research shows that the neutrino signal always appears together with muon bundles.