Cosmogenic neutrinos: parameter space and detectabilty from PeV to ZeV

Abstract

While propagating from their source to the observer, ultrahigh energy cosmic rays interact with cosmological photon backgrounds and generate to the so-called ``cosmogenic neutrinos''. Here we study the parameter space of the cosmogenic neutrino flux given recent cosmic ray data and updates on plausible source evolution models. The shape and normalization of the cosmogenic neutrino flux are very sensitive to some of the current unknowns of ultrahigh energy cosmic ray sources and composition. We investigate various chemical compositions and maximum proton acceleration energies Ep,max which are allowed by current observations. We consider different models of source evolution in redshift and three possible scenarios for the Galactic to extragalactic transition. We summarize the parameter space for cosmogenic neutrinos into three regions: an optimistic scenario that is currently being constrained by observations, a plausible range of models in which we base many of our rate estimates, and a pessimistic scenario that will postpone detection for decades to come. We present the implications of these three scenarios for the detection of cosmogenic neutrinos from PeV to ZeV (1014−21 eV) with the existing and upcoming instruments. In the plausible range of parameters, the narrow flux variability in the EeV energy region assures low but detectable rates for IceCube (0.06–0.2 neutrino per year) and the Pierre Auger Observatory (0.03–0.06 neutrino per year), and detection should happen in the next decade. If EeV neutrinos are detected, PeV information can help select between competing models of cosmic ray composition at the highest energy and the Galactic to extragalactic transition at ankle energies. With improved sensitivity, ZeV neutrino observatories, such as ANITA and JEM-EUSO could explore and place limits on the maximum acceleration energy.