Upper Limit on the Diffuse Flux of Ultrahigh Energy Tau Neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (INCLUIDO D. MELO)

Physical Review Letters

The Americal Physical Society

Año: 2008 vol. 100 p. 2111011 - 2111017

0031-9007

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth’s crust. Tau leptons from íô charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of íô at EeV energies. Assuming an Eí-2 differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is Eí 2dNí = dEí < 1.3 x 10-7 GeV cm-2 s-1 sr-1 in the energy range 2 x 1017 eV < Eí < 2 x 1019 eV.