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

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION, INCLUYE S. MOLLERACH

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2008 vol. 100 p. 1 - 7

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 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 fluxof at EeV energies. Assuming an E2 differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E2 dN =dE < 1:3 107 GeV cm2 s1 sr1 in the energy range 2 1017 eV < E < 2 1019 eV.