A study on JEM-EUSO?s trigger probability for neutrino-initiated EAS

A. GUZMÁN; A. D. SUPANITSKY; E. IWOTSCHKIN; T. MERNIK; F. FENU; GUSTAVO MEDINA-TANCO; A. SANTANGELO

Conferencia; 33RD INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE, RIO DE JANEIRO 2013 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE; 2013

Neutrinos at ultra high energies (UHE) are expected as by-products of the interaction UHE Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). Whether these interactions happen in astrophysical sources or whilst their propagation, UHE neutrinos retain valuable information about the origin and propagation of UHECRs and about their sources. Those elusive particles can be detected by very large exposure observatories that are currently being operated or, as is the case of JEM-EUSO, designed. Currently designed to be hosted on-board the International Space Station, the JEMEUSO mission will pioneer the observation of the Extensive Air Showers (EAS) fluorescent light from space. Hence, specific studies tailored to address all the peculiarities of such mission are necessary to assess JEM-EUSOs capabilities. In this paper we perform a simulations study of the trigger probability for neutrino-initiated EAS. The simulations are carried out within the EUSOs Simulation and Analysis Framework (ESAF), which is a software tool specifically developed bearing space borne missions in mind and in particular EUSO-like observatories. The shower longitudinal profiles are produced by a combination of the PYTHIA interaction code and CONEX shower simulator. The resulting EAS are then integrated to ESAFs simulation chain and subsequent triggering conditions analyzed.