The role and detectability of the charm contribution to ultra high energy neutrino fluxes

Abstract

It is widely believed that charm meson production and decay may play an important role in high energy astrophysical sources of neutrinos, especially those that are baryon-rich, providing an environment conducive to pp interactions. Using slow-jet supernovae (SJS) as an example of such a source, we study the detectability of high-energy neutrinos, paying particular attention to those produced from charmed-mesons. We highlight important distinguishing features in the ultra-high energy neutrino flux which would act as markers for the role of charm in the source. In particular, charm leads to significant event rates at higher energies, after the conventional (π,K) neutrino fluxes fall off. We calculate event rates both for a nearby single source and for diffuse SJS fluxes for an IceCube-like detector. By comparing muon event rates for the conventional and prompt fluxes in different energy bins, we demonstrate the striking energy dependence in the rates induced by the presence of charm. We also show that it leads to an energy dependant flux ratio of shower to muon events, providing an additional important diagnostic tool for the presence of prompt neutrinos. Motivated by the infusion of high energy anti-electron neutrinos into the flux by charm decay, we also study the detectability of the Glashow resonance due to these sources.