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Results for “COSMIC NEUTRINOS”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1985

Detection of 10 (10) GeV Cosmic Neutrinos with a Space Station

The potential value of SOCRAS (Space Observatory of Cosmic Ray Air Showers) for studying the highest energy cosmic rays, including the neutrinos produced in collisions of cosmic ray protons with photons of the 3 deg background radiation is examined. This instrument would look down at the atmosphere from a space station orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 500 to 600 km. During the night portion of each orbit, air showers would be imaged in the fluorescent light they produce. Progress toward the eventual realization of this scheme is described, including a suggestion by Torii for improving the vertical resolution, measurements of the terrestrial background light by Halverson, and especially an application of the LPM effect, expected to increase the sensitivity for upward moving neutrinos by several orders of magnitude.

Linsley, J.↗
NASA NTRS2020

POEMMA’s Target-of-Opportunity Sensitivity to Cosmic Neutrino Transient Sources

We investigate the capability of the Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA)in performing Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) neutrino observations. POEMMA is a proposed space-based probe-class mission for ultra high-energy cosmic ray and very-high-energy neutrino detection using two spacecraft, each equipped with a large Schmidt telescope to detect optical and near-ultraviolet signals generated by extensive air showers (EASs). POEMMA will be sensitive to Cherenkov radiation from upward-moving EASs initiated by tau neutrinos interacting in the Earth. POEMMA will be able to quickly re-point (90◦in 500 s) each of the two spacecraft to the direction of an astrophysical source, which in combination with its orbital speed will provide it with unparalleled capability to follow up transient alerts. We calculate POEMMA’s transient sensitivity for two observational configurations for the satellites (ToO-stereo and ToO-dual for smaller and larger satellite separations, respectively) and investigate the impact of variations arising due to POEMMA’s orbital characteristics on its sensitivity to tau neutrinos in various regions of the sky. We explore separate scenarios for long (∼105−6s) and short (∼103s) duration events, accounting for intrusion from the Sun and the Moon in the long-duration scenario. We compare the sensitivity and sky coverage of POEMMA for ToO observations with those for existing experiments (e.g., IceCube, ANTARES, and the Pierre Auger Observatory) and other proposed future experiments (e.g., GRAND200k).For long bursts, we find that POEMMA will provide a factor of&7 improvement in average neutrino sensitivity above 300 PeV with respect to existing experiments, reaching the level of model predictions for neutrino fluences at these energies and above from several types of long-duration astrophysical transients (e.g., binary neutron star mergers and tidal disruption events). For short bursts, POEMMA will improve the sensitivity over existing experiments by at least an order of magnitude forEν∼>100 PeV in the “best-case” scenario. POEMMA’s orbital characteristics and rapid re-pointing capability will provide it access to the full celestial sky, including regions that will not be accessible to ground-based neutrino experiments. Finally, we discuss the prospects for POEMMA to detect neutrinos from candidate astrophysical neutrino sources in the nearby universe. Our results demonstrate that with its improved neutrino sensitivity at ultra-high energies and unique full-sky coverage, POEMMA will be an essential, complementary component in a rapidly expanding multi-messenger network.

Tonia M Venters↗
DOE OSTI2018

Differential limit on the extremely-high-energy cosmic neutrino flux in the presence of astrophysical background from nine years of IceCube data

We report a quasidifferential upper limit on the extremely-high-energy (EHE) neutrino flux above 5×10 6 GeV based on an analysis of nine years of IceCube data. The astrophysical neutrino flux measured by IceCube extends to PeV energies, and it is a background flux when searching for an independent signal flux at higher energies, such as the cosmogenic neutrino signal. We have developed a new method to place robust limits on the EHE neutrino flux in the presence of an astrophysical background, whose spectrum has yet to be understood with high precision at PeV energies. A distinct event with a deposited energy above 106 GeV was found in the new two-year sample, in addition to the one event previously found in the seven-year EHE neutrino search. These two events represent a neutrino flux that is incompatible with predictions for a cosmogenic neutrino flux and are considered to be an astrophysical background in the current study. The obtained limit is the most stringent to date in the energy range between 5×10 6 and 2×10 10 GeV. This result constrains neutrino models predicting a three-flavor neutrino flux of E$2\atop{ν}$φ ν$_e$ + ν$_μ$ + ν$_τ$ ≃2×10 -8 GeV/cm 2 sec sr at 10 9 GeV. Finally, a significant part of the parameter space for EHE neutrino production scenarios assuming a proton-dominated composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is disfavored independently of uncertain models of the extragalactic background light which previous IceCube constraints partially relied on.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as axions or sterile neutrinos) or gravitational waves. The gravitational effects of any such light relics can be observed through their unique imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the large-scale structure, and the primordial light element abundances, and are important in determining the initial conditions of the universe. We argue that future cosmological observations, in particular improved maps of the CMB on small angular scales, can be orders of magnitude more sensitive for probing the thermal history of the early universe than current experiments. These observations offer a unique and broad discovery space for new physics in the dark sector and beyond, even when its effects would not be visible in terrestrial experiments or in astrophysical environments. A detection of an excess light relic abundance would be a clear indication of new physics and would provide the first direct information about the universe between the times of reheating and neutrino decoupling one second later.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as axions or sterile neutrinos) or gravitational waves. The gravitational effects of any such light relics can be observed through their unique imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the large-scale structure, and the primordial light element abundances, and are important in determining the initial conditions of the universe. We argue that future cosmological observations, in particular improved maps of the CMB on small angular scales, can be orders of magnitude more sensitive for probing the thermal history of the early universe than current experiments. These observations offer a unique and broad discovery space for new physics in the dark sector and beyond, even when its effects would not be visible in terrestrial experiments or in astrophysical environments. A detection of an excess light relic abundance would be a clear indication of new physics and would provide the first direct information about the universe between the times of reheating and neutrino decoupling one second later.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Constraints on the ultrahigh-energy cosmic neutrino flux from the fourth flight of ANITA

The ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) NASA long-duration balloon payload completed its fourth flight in December 2016, after 28 days of flight time. ANITA is sensitive to impulsive broadband radio emission from interactions of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos in polar ice (Askaryan emission). We present the results of two separate blind analyses searching for signals from Askaryan emission in the data from the fourth flight of ANITA. The more sensitive analysis, with a better expected limit, has a background estimate of ${0.64}_{-0.45}^{+0.69}$ and an analysis efficiency of 82 ± 2 % . The second analysis has a background estimate of 0.34 $^{+0.66}_{-0.16}$ and an analysis efficiency of 71 ± 6 % . Each analysis found one event in the signal region, consistent with the background estimate for each analysis. The resulting limit further tightens the constraints on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos at energies above 10 19.5 eV .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Probing long-range forces between neutrinos with cosmic structures

We study the consequences of new long-range forces between neutrinos on cosmic scales. If these forces are a few orders of magnitude stronger than gravity, they can induce perturbation instability in the nonrelativistic cosmic neutrino background in the late time universe. As a result, the cosmic neutrino background may form nonlinear bound states instead of free-streaming. The implications of the formation of nonlinear neutrino bound states include enhancing matter perturbations and triggering star formation. Based on existing measurements of the matter power spectrum and reionization history, we place new constraints on long-range forces between neutrinos with ranges lying in 1 kpc ≲ m ϕ − 1 ≲ 10 Mpc . Published by the American Physical Society 2025

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Observation and characterization of a cosmic muon neutrino flux from the northern hemisphere using six years of IceCube data

The IceCube Collaboration has previously discovered a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux using neutrino events with interaction vertices contained within the instrumented volume of the IceCube detector. We present a complementary measurement using charged current muon neutrino events where the interaction vertex can be outside this volume. As a consequence of the large muon range the effective area is significantly larger but the field of view is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. IceCube data from 2009 through 2015 have been analyzed using a likelihood approach based on the reconstructed muon energy and zenith angle. At the highest neutrino energies between 194 TeV and 7.8 PeV a significant astrophysical contribution is observed, excluding a purely atmospheric origin of these events at 5.6σ significance. The data are well described by an isotropic, unbroken power-law flux with a normalization at 100 TeV neutrino energy of (0.90{sub −0.27}{sup +0.30})×10{sup −18} GeV{sup −1} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} sr{sup −1} and a hard spectral index of γ=2.13±0.13. The observed spectrum is harder in comparison to previous IceCube analyses with lower energy thresholds which may indicate a break in the astrophysical neutrino spectrum of unknown origin. The highest-energy event observed has a reconstructed muon energy of (4.5±1.2) PeV which implies a probability of less than 0.005% for this event to be of atmospheric origin. Analyzing the arrival directions of all events with reconstructed muon energies above 200 TeV no correlation with known γ-ray sources was found. Using the high statistics of atmospheric neutrinos we report the current best constraints on a prompt atmospheric muon neutrino flux originating from charmed meson decays which is below 1.06 in units of the flux normalization of the model in Enberg et al.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1981

Cosmic ray neutrino tests for heavier weak bosons and cosmic antimatter

A program for using high energy neutrino astronomy with large neutrino detectors to directly test for the existence of heavier weak intermediate vector bosons (ivb) and cosmic antimatter is described. Such observations can provide a direct test of baryon symmetric cosmologies. Changes in the total cross section for nu(N) yields mu(X) due to additional propagators are discussed and higher mass resonances in the annihilation channel bar-nu sub e e(-) yields X are analyzed. The annihilation channel is instrumental in the search for antimatter, partcularly if heavier IVB's exist.

Brown, R. W.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Electromagnetic Radiation from Cosmic-Ray Scatterings on Relic Neutrinos

Cosmic-ray scatterings on the cosmic neutrino background induce a flux of gamma-rays and X-rays from boosted meson decays and charged lepton processes. Here we present the first estimate of this flux and its cumulative cosmological contribution. Confronting expectations with Fermi-LAT diffuse gamma-ray data, we find a limit on the cosmic neutrino background overdensity at the level of $η\lesssim 2 \times 10^{4}$ for a lightest neutrino mass of $m_ν\gtrsim0.1$ eV, orders of magnitude stronger than current direct laboratory probes, and comparable to constraints on the cosmic neutrino background obtained with IceCube. We further show that X-ray synchrotron emission from cascade electron-positron pairs in intergalactic magnetic fields provides a complementary, albeit weaker, constraint. We discuss how anisotropic signatures and future gamma-ray data from CTA could further improve bounds on the relic neutrino overdensity, approaching in sensitivity the $Λ$CDM expected density.

Herrera, Gonzalo [MIT, MKI; Harvard U.] (ORCID:000↗
DOE OSTI2023

Bremsstrahlung from neutrino scattering via magnetic dipole moments

In this paper, we discuss bremsstrahlung induced by neutrino scattering. This process should exist since neutrinos are expected to couple to photons via magnetic dipole and transition moments. These moments are loop-induced and tiny in the Standard Model with neutrino masses but could be significantly enhanced in extended theories. As concrete example, we study the scattering of the two largest neutrino fluxes on earth, solar neutrinos and Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB). Finally, it is tempting to consider this as a potential signature for CNB searches but it turns out that the signal is extremely small and unlikely to be observed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗