Characteristics of the Diffuse Astrophysical Electron and Tau Neutrino Flux with Six Years of IceCube High Energy Cascade Data

M G Aartsen¹, M Ackermann², J Adams¹, J A Aguilar³, M Ahlers⁴, M Ahrens⁵, C Alispach⁶, K Andeen⁷, T Anderson⁸, I Ansseau³, G Anton⁹, C Argüelles¹⁰, J Auffenberg¹¹, S Axani¹⁰, P Backes¹¹, H Bagherpour¹, X Bai¹², A Balagopal V¹³, A Barbano⁶, S W Barwick¹⁴, B Bastian², V Baum¹⁵, S Baur³, R Bay¹⁶, J J Beatty^{17

18}, K-H Becker¹⁹, J Becker Tjus²⁰, S BenZvi²¹, D Berley²², E Bernardini², D Z Besson²³, G Binder^{16

24}, D Bindig¹⁹, E Blaufuss²², S Blot², C Bohm⁵, S Böser¹⁵, O Botner²⁵, J Böttcher¹¹, E Bourbeau⁴, J Bourbeau²⁶, F Bradascio², J Braun²⁶, S Bron⁶, J Brostean-Kaiser², A Burgman²⁵, J Buscher¹¹, R S Busse²⁷, T Carver⁶, C Chen²⁸, E Cheung²², D Chirkin²⁶, S Choi²⁹, K Clark³⁰, L Classen²⁷, A Coleman³¹, G H Collin¹⁰, J M Conrad¹⁰, P Coppin³², P Correa³², D F Cowen^{33

8}, R Cross²¹, P Dave²⁸, C De Clercq³², J J DeLaunay⁸, H Dembinski³¹, K Deoskar⁵, S De Ridder³⁴, P Desiati²⁶, K D de Vries³², G de Wasseige³², M de With³⁵, T DeYoung³⁶, A Diaz¹⁰, J C Díaz-Vélez²⁶, H Dujmovic¹³, M Dunkman⁸, E Dvorak¹², B Eberhardt²⁶, T Ehrhardt¹⁵, P Eller⁸, R Engel¹³, P A Evenson³¹, S Fahey²⁶, A R Fazely³⁷, J Felde²², K Filimonov¹⁶, C Finley⁵, D Fox³³, A Franckowiak², E Friedman²², A Fritz¹⁵, T K Gaisser³¹, J Gallagher³⁸, E Ganster¹¹, S Garrappa², L Gerhardt²⁴, K Ghorbani²⁶, T Glauch³⁹, T Glüsenkamp⁹, A Goldschmidt²⁴, J G Gonzalez³¹, D Grant³⁶, T Grégoire⁸, Z Griffith²⁶, S Griswold²¹, M Günder¹¹, M Gündüz²⁰, C Haack¹¹, A Hallgren²⁵, R Halliday³⁶, L Halve¹¹, F Halzen²⁶, K Hanson²⁶, A Haungs¹³, D Hebecker³⁵, D Heereman³, P Heix¹¹, K Helbing¹⁹, R Hellauer²², F Henningsen³⁹, S Hickford¹⁹, J Hignight⁴⁰, G C Hill⁴¹, K D Hoffman²², R Hoffmann¹⁹, T Hoinka⁴², B Hokanson-Fasig²⁶, K Hoshina²⁶, F Huang⁸, M Huber³⁹, T Huber^{13

2}, K Hultqvist⁵, M Hünnefeld⁴², R Hussain²⁶, S In²⁹, N Iovine³, A Ishihara⁴³, M Jansson⁵, G S Japaridze⁴⁴, M Jeong²⁹, K Jero²⁶, B J P Jones⁴⁵, F Jonske¹¹, R Joppe¹¹, D Kang¹³, W Kang²⁹, A Kappes²⁷, D Kappesser¹⁵, T Karg², M Karl³⁹, A Karle²⁶, U Katz⁹, M Kauer²⁶, J L Kelley²⁶, A Kheirandish²⁶, J Kim²⁹, T Kintscher², J Kiryluk⁴⁶, T Kittler⁹, S R Klein^{16

24}, R Koirala³¹, H Kolanoski³⁵, L Köpke¹⁵, C Kopper³⁶, S Kopper⁴⁷, D J Koskinen⁴, M Kowalski^{35

2}, K Krings³⁹, G Krückl¹⁵, N Kulacz⁴⁰, N Kurahashi⁴⁸, A Kyriacou⁴¹, J L Lanfranchi⁸, M J Larson²², F Lauber¹⁹, J P Lazar²⁶, K Leonard²⁶, M Lesiak-Bzdak⁴⁶, A Leszczyńska¹³, M Leuermann¹¹, Q R Liu²⁶, E Lohfink¹⁵, C J Lozano Mariscal²⁷, L Lu⁴³, F Lucarelli⁶, J Lünemann³², W Luszczak²⁶, Y Lyu^{16

24}, W Y Ma², J Madsen⁴⁹, G Maggi³², K B M Mahn³⁶, Y Makino⁴³, P Mallik¹¹, K Mallot²⁶, S Mancina²⁶, I C Mariş³, R Maruyama⁵⁰, K Mase⁴³, R Maunu²², F McNally⁵¹, K Meagher²⁶, M Medici⁴, A Medina¹⁸, M Meier⁴², S Meighen-Berger³⁹, G Merino²⁶, T Meures³, J Micallef³⁶, D Mockler³, G Momenté¹⁵, T Montaruli⁶, R W Moore⁴⁰, R Morse²⁶, M Moulai¹⁰, P Muth¹¹, R Nagai⁴³, U Naumann¹⁹, G Neer³⁶, H Niederhausen^{39

46}, M U Nisa³⁶, S C Nowicki³⁶, D R Nygren²⁴, A Obertacke Pollmann¹⁹, M Oehler¹³, A Olivas²², A O'Murchadha³, E O'Sullivan⁵, T Palczewski^{16

24}, H Pandya³¹, D V Pankova⁸, N Park²⁶, P Peiffer¹⁵, C Pérez de Los Heros²⁵, S Philippen¹¹, D Pieloth⁴², S Pieper¹⁹, E Pinat³, A Pizzuto²⁶, M Plum⁷, A Porcelli³⁴, P B Price¹⁶, G T Przybylski²⁴, C Raab³, A Raissi¹, M Rameez⁴, L Rauch², K Rawlins⁵², I C Rea³⁹, A Rehman³¹, R Reimann¹¹, B Relethford⁴⁸, M Renschler¹³, G Renzi³, E Resconi³⁹, W Rhode⁴², M Richman⁴⁸, S Robertson²⁴, M Rongen¹¹, C Rott²⁹, T Ruhe⁴², D Ryckbosch³⁴, D Rysewyk³⁶, I Safa²⁶, S E Sanchez Herrera³⁶, A Sandrock⁴², J Sandroos¹⁵, M Santander⁴⁷, S Sarkar⁵³, S Sarkar⁴⁰, K Satalecka², M Schaufel¹¹, H Schieler¹³, P Schlunder⁴², T Schmidt²², A Schneider²⁶, J Schneider⁹, F G Schröder^{13

31}, L Schumacher¹¹, S Sclafani⁴⁸, D Seckel³¹, S Seunarine⁴⁹, S Shefali¹¹, M Silva²⁶, R Snihur²⁶, J Soedingrekso⁴², D Soldin³¹, M Song²², G M Spiczak⁴⁹, C Spiering², J Stachurska², M Stamatikos¹⁸, T Stanev³¹, R Stein², J Stettner¹¹, A Steuer¹⁵, T Stezelberger²⁴, R G Stokstad²⁴, A Stößl⁴³, N L Strotjohann², T Stürwald¹¹, T Stuttard⁴, G W Sullivan²², I Taboada²⁸, F Tenholt²⁰, S Ter-Antonyan³⁷, A Terliuk², S Tilav³¹, K Tollefson³⁶, L Tomankova²⁰, C Tönnis⁵⁴, S Toscano³, D Tosi²⁶, A Trettin², M Tselengidou⁹, C F Tung²⁸, A Turcati³⁹, R Turcotte¹³, C F Turley⁸, B Ty²⁶, E Unger²⁵, M A Unland Elorrieta²⁷, M Usner², J Vandenbroucke²⁶, W Van Driessche³⁴, D van Eijk²⁶, N van Eijndhoven³², J van Santen², S Verpoest³⁴, M Vraeghe³⁴, C Walck⁵, A Wallace⁴¹, M Wallraff¹¹, N Wandkowsky²⁶, T B Watson⁴⁵, C Weaver⁴⁰, A Weindl¹³, M J Weiss⁸, J Weldert¹⁵, C Wendt²⁶, J Werthebach²⁶, B J Whelan⁴¹, N Whitehorn⁵⁵, K Wiebe¹⁵, C H Wiebusch¹¹, L Wille²⁶, D R Williams⁴⁷, L Wills⁴⁸, M Wolf³⁹, J Wood²⁶, T R Wood⁴⁰, K Woschnagg¹⁶, G Wrede⁹, D L Xu²⁶, X W Xu³⁷, Y Xu⁴⁶, J P Yanez⁴⁰, G Yodh¹⁴, S Yoshida⁴³, T Yuan²⁶, M Zöcklein¹¹; IceCube Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
² DESY, D-15738 Zeuthen, Germany.
³ Université Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Oskar Klein Centre and Department of Physics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, CH-1211 Genève, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Physics, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
⁹ Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
¹¹ III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen, Germany.
¹² Physics Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
¹³ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Kernphysik, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
¹⁵ Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, University of Wuppertal, D-42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
²⁰ Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
²² Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
²⁴ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, S-75120 Uppsala, Sweden.
²⁶ Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
²⁷ Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany.
²⁸ School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
²⁹ Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
³⁰ SNOLAB, 1039 Regional Road 24, Creighton Mine 9, Lively, Ontario, Canada P3Y 1N2.
³¹ Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
³² Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Dienst ELEM, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
³³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
³⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
³⁵ Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
³⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
³⁷ Department of Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA.
³⁸ Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
³⁹ Physik-department, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
⁴⁰ Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1.
⁴¹ Department of Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005, Australia.
⁴² Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany.
⁴³ Department of Physics and Institute for Global Prominent Research, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
⁴⁴ CTSPS, Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia 30314, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, 502 Yates Street, Science Hall Rm 108, Box 19059, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3800, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA.
⁴⁸ Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, Wisconsin 54022, USA.
⁵⁰ Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Physics, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia 31207-0001, USA.
⁵² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508, USA.
⁵³ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
⁵⁴ Institute of Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
⁵⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.

PMID: 33016752
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.121104

Free article

Characteristics of the Diffuse Astrophysical Electron and Tau Neutrino Flux with Six Years of IceCube High Energy Cascade Data

M G Aartsen et al. Phys Rev Lett. 2020.

Free article

. 2020 Sep 18;125(12):121104.

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.121104.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
² DESY, D-15738 Zeuthen, Germany.
³ Université Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Oskar Klein Centre and Department of Physics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, CH-1211 Genève, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Physics, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
⁹ Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
¹¹ III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen, Germany.
¹² Physics Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
¹³ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Kernphysik, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
¹⁵ Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, University of Wuppertal, D-42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
²⁰ Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
²² Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
²⁴ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, S-75120 Uppsala, Sweden.
²⁶ Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
²⁷ Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany.
²⁸ School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
²⁹ Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
³⁰ SNOLAB, 1039 Regional Road 24, Creighton Mine 9, Lively, Ontario, Canada P3Y 1N2.
³¹ Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
³² Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Dienst ELEM, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
³³ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
³⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
³⁵ Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
³⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
³⁷ Department of Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA.
³⁸ Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
³⁹ Physik-department, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
⁴⁰ Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1.
⁴¹ Department of Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005, Australia.
⁴² Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany.
⁴³ Department of Physics and Institute for Global Prominent Research, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
⁴⁴ CTSPS, Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia 30314, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, 502 Yates Street, Science Hall Rm 108, Box 19059, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3800, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA.
⁴⁸ Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, Wisconsin 54022, USA.
⁵⁰ Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
⁵¹ Department of Physics, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia 31207-0001, USA.
⁵² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508, USA.
⁵³ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
⁵⁴ Institute of Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
⁵⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.

PMID: 33016752
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.121104

Abstract

We report on the first measurement of the astrophysical neutrino flux using particle showers (cascades) in IceCube data from 2010-2015. Assuming standard oscillations, the astrophysical neutrinos in this dedicated cascade sample are dominated (∼90%) by electron and tau flavors. The flux, observed in the sensitive energy range from 16 TeV to 2.6 PeV, is consistent with a single power-law model as expected from Fermi-type acceleration of high energy particles at astrophysical sources. We find the flux spectral index to be γ=2.53±0.07 and a flux normalization for each neutrino flavor of ϕ_{astro}=1.66_{-0.27}^{+0.25} at E_{0}=100 TeV, in agreement with IceCube's complementary muon neutrino results and with all-neutrino flavor fit results. In the measured energy range we reject spectral indices γ≤2.28 at ≥3σ significance level. Because of high neutrino energy resolution and low atmospheric neutrino backgrounds, this analysis provides the most detailed characterization of the neutrino flux at energies below ∼100 TeV compared to previous IceCube results. Results from fits assuming more complex neutrino flux models suggest a flux softening at high energies and a flux hardening at low energies (p value ≥0.06). The sizable and smooth flux measured below ∼100 TeV remains a puzzle. In order to not violate the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background as measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, it suggests the existence of astrophysical neutrino sources characterized by dense environments which are opaque to gamma rays.

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Characteristics of the Diffuse Astrophysical Electron and Tau Neutrino Flux with Six Years of IceCube High Energy Cascade Data

Affiliations

Characteristics of the Diffuse Astrophysical Electron and Tau Neutrino Flux with Six Years of IceCube High Energy Cascade Data

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources