Upper limit on the diffuse flux of UHE tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION; C. BONIFAZI

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2008

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 ντ 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 ντ at EeV energies. Assuming an E−2ν differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E2νdNντ/dEν