A view of prompt atmospheric neutrinos with IceCube

Abstract

Atmospheric neutrinos are produced in air showers, when cosmic-ray primaries hit the Earthʼs atmosphere and interact hadronically. The conventional neutrino flux, which dominates the neutrino data measured in the GeV to TeV range by neutrino telescopes, is produced by the decay of charged pions and kaons. Prompt atmospheric neutrinos are produced by the decay of heavier mesons typically containing a charm quark. Their production is strongly suppressed, but they are expected to exhibit a harder energy spectrum. Hence, they could dominate the atmospheric neutrino flux at energies above ∼100TeV. Such a prompt atmospheric flux component has not yet been observed. Therefore, it is an interesting signal in a diffuse neutrino search, but also a background in the search for a diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux. The sensitivity of diffuse neutrino searches with the IceCube Neutrino observatory has reached the level of theoretical expectations of prompt neutrino fluxes, and recent results are presented.