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

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (P.HANSEN PERTENECE A LA COLABORACION-ORDEN ALFABETICO)

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 flux of at EeV energies. Assuming an E differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is EdN/dE<1.3×10-7 GeV cm-2 s-1 sr-1 in the energy range 2×1017 eV<E<2×1019 eV.