Search for point-like sources of ultra-high energy neutrinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory and improved limit on the diffuse flux of tau neutrinos

• Autores: Arganda Carreras, Ernesto; Dova, María Teresa; Gómez Albarracín, Flavia Alejandra; Hansen, Patricia María; Jarne, Cecilia Gisele; Mariazzi, Analisa Gabriela; Moreno, Juan Cruz; Sciutto, Sergio Juan; Wahlberg, Hernán Pablo; The Pierre Auger Collaboration
• Año de publicación: 2012
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Ciencias Exactas; Física; Astroparticle physics; Radiación Cósmica; neutrinos; Telescopios
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory can detect neutrinos with energy Eν between 10¹⁷ eV and 10²⁰ eV from point-like sources across the sky south of +55º and north of −65º declinations. A search has been performed for highly inclined extensive air showers produced by the interaction of neutrinos of all flavors in the atmosphere (downward-going neutrinos), and by the decay of tau leptons originating from tau neutrino interactions in Earth’s crust (Earth-skimming neutrinos). No candidate neutrinos have been found in data up to 2010 May 31. This corresponds to an equivalent exposure of ∼3.5 years of a full surface detector array for the Earth-skimming channel and ∼2 years for the downward-going channel. An improved upper limit on the diffuse flux of tau neutrinos has been derived. Upper limits on the neutrino flux from point-like sources have been derived as a function of the source declination. Assuming a differential neutrino flux k_PS · E⁻²_ν from a point-like source, 90% confidence level upper limits for k_PS at the level of ≈5×10⁻⁷ and 2.5×10⁻⁶ GeV cm⁻² s⁻¹ have been obtained over a broad range of declinations from the searches for Earth-skimming and downward-going neutrinos, respectively.
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas