UHE neutrinos and the composition of UHECRs

✍ Scribed by A.V. Olinto; D. Allard

• Book ID: 103869929
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 279 KB
• Volume: 165
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0920-5632
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2006.11.024

✦ Synopsis

We discuss the flux of neutrinos generated by the propagation of ultra-high energy nuclei over cosmological distances. The cosmogenic neutrino flux from mixed composition sources is similar to that of pure proton sources. The high energy peak, due to photopion production off CMB photons, has a similar shape and amplitude to the proton case. At low energies both compositions give have significant neutrino flux with a peak around 10 14.5 eV due to higher energy cosmic backgrounds. The mixed composition case induces a higher flux of neutrinos at energies below 10 13 eV due to the neutron decay component that extends down to lower energies. Detection of a diffuse neutrino flux at ultra high energies can constrain the source distribution of UHECR whereas fluxes at lower energies could be used to constrain the confinement of VHE and UHE cosmic rays if combined with composition analysis from cosmic ray experiments.