Atmospheric Muons Measured with IceCube

Dennis Soldin,B Pattison,H Menjo,Y Itow,T Sako

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201920808007

Abstract

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov detector in the deep ice at the geographic South Pole. The dominant event yield is produced by penetrating atmospheric muons with energies above several 100 GeV. Due to its large detector volume, IceCube provides unique opportunities to study atmospheric muons with large statistics in detail. Measurements of the energy spectrum and the lateral separation distribution of muons offer insights into hadronic interactions during the air shower development and can be used to test hadronic models. We will present an overview of various measurements of atmospheric muons in IceCube, including the energy spectrum of muons between 10 TeV and 1 PeV. This is used to derive an estimate of the prompt contribution of muons, originating from the decay of heavy (mainly charmed) hadrons and unflavored mesons. We will also present measurements of the lateral separation distributions of TeV muons between 150m and 450m for several initial cosmic ray energies between 1 PeV and 16 PeV. Finally, the angular distribution of atmospheric muons in IceCube will be discussed.

Highlights

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer neutrino detector installed in the ice at the geographic South Pole between depths of 1450 m and 2450 m [1]
Using the deep ice detector together with the IceTop array enables studies on forward muons with large Feynman-x, which can be found in Ref. [4], and measurements of the cosmic ray mass composition based on the ratio of the electromagnetic to muonic component of the air shower, which are presented in Ref. [5]
The energy spectrum of high-energy muons measured between 10 TeV and 1 PeV in IceCube has been presented

Summary

Introduction

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer neutrino detector installed in the ice at the geographic South Pole between depths of 1450 m and 2450 m [1]. With its large 3-dimensional detector volume IceCube observes muons from all directions and enables detailed studies of their angular distribution, up to zenith angles of approximately 82◦. In this work we will present measurements of the energy spectrum of atmospheric muons above 10 TeV These measurements include detailed studies of the contribution of prompt muons, which originate from the decay of shortlived heavy hadrons. We will present the lateral separation distribution of isolated muons far from the shower core, with separations up to several hundred meters These muons are typically produced by decays of hadrons with large transverse momentum (pT 2 GeV/c) and thereby provide tests of pQCD predictions and hadronic models at high energies and low Bjorken-x. Using the deep ice detector together with the IceTop array enables studies on forward muons with large Feynman-x, which can be found in Ref. Using the deep ice detector together with the IceTop array enables studies on forward muons with large Feynman-x, which can be found in Ref. [4], and measurements of the cosmic ray mass composition based on the ratio of the electromagnetic to muonic component of the air shower, which are presented in Ref. [5]

High-energy muon fluxes

Laterally separated muons

Angular distributions

Conclusions