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Phys. Rev. D 79, 102001 (2009) [15 pages]

Limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

J. Abraham,7 P. Abreu,63 M. Aglietta,48 C. Aguirre,11 E. J. Ahn,78 D. Allard,27 I. Allekotte,1 J. Allen,81 P. Allison,83 J. Alvarez-Muñiz,70 M. Ambrosio,43 L. Anchordoqui,93 S. Andringa,63 A. Anzalone,47 C. Aramo,43 S. Argirò,46 K. Arisaka,86 F. Arneodo,49 F. Arqueros,67 T. Asch,34 H. Asorey,1 P. Assis,63 J. Aublin,29 M. Ave,87 G. Avila,9 T. Bäcker,38 D. Badagnani,5 K. B. Barber,10 A. F. Barbosa,13 S. L. C. Barroso,18 B. Baughman,83 P. Bauleo,76 J. J. Beatty,83 T. Beau,27 B. R. Becker,90 K. H. Becker,32 A. Bellétoile,30 J. A. Bellido,10,84 S. BenZvi,92 C. Berat,30 P. Bernardini,42 X. Bertou,1 P. L. Biermann,35 P. Billoir,29 O. Blanch-Bigas,29 F. Blanco,67 C. Bleve,42 H. Blümer,37,33 M. Boháčová,87,24 C. Bonifazi,29,13 R. Bonino,48 J. Brack,76 P. Brogueira,63 W. C. Brown,77 R. Bruijn,72 P. Buchholz,38 A. Bueno,69 R. E. Burton,74 N. G. Busca,27 K. S. Caballero-Mora,37 L. Caramete,35 R. Caruso,45 W. Carvalho,15 A. Castellina,48 O. Catalano,47 L. Cazon,87 R. Cester,46 J. Chauvin,30 A. Chiavassa,48 J. A. Chinellato,16 A. Chou,78,81 J. Chudoba,24 J. Chye,80 R. W. Clay,10 E. Colombo,2 R. Conceição,63 B. Connolly,91 F. Contreras,8 J. Coppens,57,59 A. Cordier,28 U. Cotti,55 S. Coutu,84 C. E. Covault,74 A. Creusot,65 A. Criss,84 J. Cronin,87 A. Curutiu,35 S. Dagoret-Campagne,28 K. Daumiller,33 B. R. Dawson,10 R. M. de Almeida,16 M. De Domenico,45 C. De Donato,41 S. J. de Jong,57 G. De La Vega,7 W. J. M. de Mello Junior,16 J. R. T. de Mello Neto,21 I. De Mitri,42 V. de Souza,15 G. Decerprit,27 L. del Peral,68 O. Deligny,26 A. Della Selva,43 C. Delle Fratte,44 H. Dembinski,36 C. Di Giulio,44 J. C. Diaz,80 P. N. Diep,94 C. Dobrigkeit,16 J. C. D'Olivo,56 P. N. Dong,94 D. Dornic,26 A. Dorofeev,79 J. C. dos Anjos,13 M. T. Dova,5 D. D'Urso,43 I. Dutan,35 M. A. DuVernois,88 R. Engel,33 M. Erdmann,36 C. O. Escobar,16 A. Etchegoyen,2 P. Facal San Luis,87,70 H. Falcke,57,60 G. Farrar,81 A. C. Fauth,16 N. Fazzini,78 F. Ferrer,74 A. Ferrero,2 B. Fick,80 A. Filevich,2 A. Filipčič,64,65 I. Fleck,38 S. Fliescher,36 C. E. Fracchiolla,14 E. D. Fraenkel,58 W. Fulgione,48 R. F. Gamarra,2 S. Gambetta,39 B. García,7 D. García Gámez,69 D. Garcia-Pinto,67 X. Garrido,33,28 G. Gelmini,86 H. Gemmeke,34 P. L. Ghia,26,48 U. Giaccari,42 M. Giller,62 H. Glass,78 L. M. Goggin,93 M. S. Gold,90 G. Golup,1 F. Gomez Albarracin,5 M. Gómez Berisso,1 P. Gonçalves,63 M. Gonçalves do Amaral,22 D. Gonzalez,37 J. G. Gonzalez,69,79 D. Góra,37,61 A. Gorgi,48 P. Gouffon,15 S. Grebe,57,38 M. Grigat,36 A. F. Grillo,49 Y. Guardincerri,4 F. Guarino,43 G. P. Guedes,17 J. Gutiérrez,68 J. D. Hague,90 V. Halenka,25 P. Hansen,5 D. Harari,1 S. Harmsma,58,59 J. L. Harton,76 A. Haungs,33 M. D. Healy,86 T. Hebbeker,36 G. Hebrero,68 D. Heck,33 C. Hojvat,78 V. C. Holmes,10 P. Homola,61 J. R. Hörandel,57 A. Horneffer,57 M. Hrabovský,25,24 T. Huege,33 M. Hussain,65 M. Iarlori,40 A. Insolia,45 F. Ionita,87 A. Italiano,45 S. Jiraskova,57 M. Kaducak,78 K. H. Kampert,32 T. Karova,24 P. Kasper,78 B. Kégl,28 B. Keilhauer,33 E. Kemp,16 R. M. Kieckhafer,80 H. O. Klages,33 M. Kleifges,34 J. Kleinfeller,33 R. Knapik,76 J. Knapp,72 D.-H. Koang,30 A. Krieger,2 O. Krömer,34 D. Kruppke,32 D. Kuempel,32 N. Kunka,34 A. Kusenko,86 G. La Rosa,47 C. Lachaud,27 B. L. Lago,21 M. S. A. B. Leão,20 D. Lebrun,30 P. Lebrun,78 J. Lee,86 M. A. Leigui de Oliveira,20 A. Lemiere,26 A. Letessier-Selvon,29 M. Leuthold,36 I. Lhenry-Yvon,26 R. López,50 A. Lopez Agüera,70 J. Lozano Bahilo,69 A. Lucero,48 R. Luna García,51 M. C. Maccarone,47 C. Macolino,40 S. Maldera,48 D. Mandat,24 P. Mantsch,78 A. G. Mariazzi,5 I. C. Maris,37 H. R. Marquez Falcon,55 D. Martello,42 J. Martínez,51 O. Martínez Bravo,50 H. J. Mathes,33 J. Matthews,79,85 J. A. J. Matthews,90 G. Matthiae,44 D. Maurizio,46 P. O. Mazur,78 M. McEwen,68 R. R. McNeil,79 G. Medina-Tanco,56 M. Melissas,37 D. Melo,46 E. Menichetti,46 A. Menshikov,34 R. Meyhandan,58 M. I. Micheletti,2 G. Miele,43 W. Miller,90 L. Miramonti,41 S. Mollerach,1 M. Monasor,67 D. Monnier Ragaigne,28 F. Montanet,30 B. Morales,56 C. Morello,48 J. C. Moreno,5 C. Morris,83 M. Mostafá,76 S. Mueller,33 M. A. Muller,16 R. Mussa,46 G. Navarra,48 J. L. Navarro,69 S. Navas,69 P. Necesal,24 L. Nellen,56 C. Newman-Holmes,78 D. Newton,72 P. T. Nhung,94 N. Nierstenhoefer,32 D. Nitz,80 D. Nosek,23 L. Nožka,24 J. Oehlschläger,33 A. Olinto,87 V. M. Olmos-Gilbaja,70 M. Ortiz,67 F. Ortolani,44 N. Pacheco,68 D. Pakk Selmi-Dei,16 M. Palatka,24 J. Pallotta,3 G. Parente,70 E. Parizot,27 S. Parlati,49 S. Pastor,66 M. Patel,72 T. Paul,82 V. Pavlidou,87 K. Payet,30 M. Pech,24 J. Pekala,61 R. Pelayo,54 I. M. Pepe,19 L. Perrone,42 R. Pesce,39 E. Petermann,89 S. Petrera,40 P. Petrinca,44 A. Petrolini,39 Y. Petrov,76 J. Petrovic,59 C. Pfendner,92 A. Pichel,6 R. Piegaia,4 T. Pierog,33 M. Pimenta,63 T. Pinto,66 V. Pirronello,45 O. Pisanti,43 M. Platino,2 J. Pochon,1 V. H. Ponce,1 M. Pontz,38 P. Privitera,87 M. Prouza,24 E. J. Quel,3 J. Rautenberg,32 D. Ravignani,2 A. Redondo,68 S. Reucroft,82 B. Revenu,31 F. A. S. Rezende,13 J. Ridky,24 S. Riggi,45 M. Risse,32 C. Rivière,30 V. Rizi,40 C. Robledo,50 G. Rodriguez,44 J. Rodriguez Martino,45 J. Rodriguez Rojo,8 I. Rodriguez-Cabo,70 M. D. Rodríguez-Frías,68 G. Ros,67,68 J. Rosado,67 M. Roth,33 B. Rouillé-d'Orfeuil,27 E. Roulet,1 A. C. Rovero,6 F. Salamida,40 H. Salazar,50 G. Salina,44 F. Sánchez,56 M. Santander,8 C. E. Santo,63 E. M. Santos,21 F. Sarazin,75 S. Sarkar,71 R. Sato,8 N. Scharf,36 V. Scherini,32 H. Schieler,33 P. Schiffer,36 A. Schmidt,34 F. Schmidt,87 T. Schmidt,37 O. Scholten,58 H. Schoorlemmer,57,59 J. Schovancova,24 P. Schovánek,24 F. Schroeder,33 S. Schulte,36 F. Schüssler,33 D. Schuster,75 S. J. Sciutto,5 M. Scuderi,45 A. Segreto,47 D. Semikoz,27 M. Settimo,42 R. C. Shellard,13,14 I. Sidelnik,2 B. B. Siffert,21 N. Smetniansky De Grande,2 A. Smialkowski,62 R. Šmída,24 B. E. Smith,72 G. R. Snow,89 P. Sommers,84 J. Sorokin,10 H. Spinka,73,78 R. Squartini,8 E. Strazzeri,28 A. Stutz,30 F. Suarez,2 T. Suomijärvi,26 A. D. Supanitsky,56 M. S. Sutherland,83 J. Swain,82 Z. Szadkowski,62 A. Tamashiro,6 A. Tamburro,37 T. Tarutina,5 O. Tascău,32 R. Tcaciuc,38 D. Tcherniakhovski,34 N. T. Thao,94 D. Thomas,76 R. Ticona,12 J. Tiffenberg,4 C. Timmermans,59,57 W. Tkaczyk,62 C. J. Todero Peixoto,16 B. Tomé,63 A. Tonachini,46 I. Torres,50 P. Travnicek,24 D. B. Tridapalli,15 G. Tristram,27 E. Trovato,45 V. Tuci,44 M. Tueros,5 R. Ulrich,33 M. Unger,33 M. Urban,28 J. F. Valdés Galicia,56 I. Valiño,70 L. Valore,43 A. M. van den Berg,58 V. van Elewyck,26 R. A. Vázquez,70 D. Veberič,65,64 A. Velarde,12 T. Venters,87 V. Verzi,44 M. Videla,7 L. Villaseñor,55 S. Vorobiov,65 L. Voyvodic,78 H. Wahlberg,5 P. Wahrlich,10 O. Wainberg,2 D. Warner,76 A. A. Watson,72 S. Westerhoff,92 B. J. Whelan,10 G. Wieczorek,62 L. Wiencke,75 B. Wilczyńska,61 H. Wilczyński,61 C. Wileman,72 M. G. Winnick,10 H. Wu,28 B. Wundheiler,2,87 P. Younk,76 G. Yuan,79 E. Zas,70 D. Zavrtanik,65,64 M. Zavrtanik,64,65 I. Zaw,81 A. Zepeda,52,53 and M. Ziolkowski38

(Pierre Auger Collaboration)

1Centro Atómico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CNEA- UNCuyo-CONICET), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
2Centro Atómico Constituyentes (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica/CONICET/UTN-FRBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
3Centro de Investigaciones en Láseres y Aplicaciones, CITEFA and CONICET, Argentina
4Departamento de Física, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires y CONICET, Argentina
5IFLP, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
6Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
7Observatorio Meteorologico Parque Gral. San Martin (UTN- FRM/CONICET/CNEA), Mendoza, Argentina
8Pierre Auger Southern Observatory, Malargüe, Argentina
9Pierre Auger Southern Observatory and Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Malargüe, Argentina
10University of Adelaide, Adelaide, S.A., Australia
11Universidad Catolica de Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia
12Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia
13Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
14Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
15Universidade de Sao Paulo, Instituto de Fisica, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
16Universidade Estadual de Campinas, IFGW, Campinas, SP, Brazil
17Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil
18Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Vitoria da Conquista, BA, Brazil
19Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil
20Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
21Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Física, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
22Universidade Federal Fluminense, Instituto de Fisica, Niterói, RJ, Brazil
23Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Prague, Czech Republic
24Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
25Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
26Institut de Physique Nucléaire d'Orsay (IPNO), Université Paris 11, CNRS-IN2P3, Orsay, France
27Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), Université Paris 7, CNRS-IN2P3, Paris, France
28Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire (LAL), Université Paris 11, CNRS-IN2P3, Orsay, France
29Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7, Paris Cedex 05, France
30Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Université Joseph Fourier, INPG, CNRS-IN2P3, Grenoble, France
31SUBATECH, Nantes, France
32Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
33Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruhe, Germany
34Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, Germany
35Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany
36RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut A, Aachen, Germany
37Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik (IEKP), Karlsruhe, Germany
38Universität Siegen, Siegen, Germany
39Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università and INFN, Genova, Italy
40Università dell'Aquila and INFN, L'Aquila, Italy
41Università di Milano and Sezione INFN, Milan, Italy
42Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università del Salento and Sezione INFN, Lecce, Italy
43Università di Napoli “Federico II” and Sezione INFN, Napoli, Italy
44Università di Roma II “Tor Vergata” and Sezione INFN, Roma, Italy
45Università di Catania and Sezione INFN, Catania, Italy
46Università di Torino and Sezione INFN, Torino, Italy
47Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo (INAF), Palermo, Italy
48Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (INAF), Università di Torino and Sezione INFN, Torino, Italy
49INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L'Aquila), Italy
50Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
51Centro de Investigacion en Computo del IPN, México, D.F., Mexico
52Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV), México, D.F., Mexico
53Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico
54Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingenieria y Tecnologia Avanzadas del IPN, Mexico, D.F., Mexico
55Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico
56Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F., Mexico
57IMAPP, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
58Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
59NIKHEF, Amsterdam, Netherlands
60ASTRON, Dwingeloo, Netherlands
61Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, Krakow, Poland
62University of Lódź, Lódz, Poland
63LIP and Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal
64J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
65Laboratory for Astroparticle Physics, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
66Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC-Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
67Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
68Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain
69Universidad de Granada & C.A.F.P.E., Granada, Spain
70Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
71Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
72School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
73Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA
74Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
75Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA
76Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
77Colorado State University, Pueblo, Colorado, USA
78Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, USA
79Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
80Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA
81New York University, New York, New York, USA
82Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
83Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
84Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
85Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
86University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
87University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute, Chicago, Illinois, USA
88University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
89University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
90University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
91University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
92University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
93University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
94Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology (INST), Hanoi, Vietnam
Received 2 March 2009; published 1 May 2009

Data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory are used to establish an upper limit on the diffuse flux of tau neutrinos in the cosmic radiation. Earth-skimming nutau may interact in the Earth's crust and produce a tau lepton by means of charged-current interactions. The tau lepton may emerge from the Earth and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a typical signature, a persistent electromagnetic component even at very large atmospheric depths. The search procedure to select events induced by tau decays against the background of normal showers induced by cosmic rays is described. The method used to compute the exposure for a detector continuously growing with time is detailed. Systematic uncertainties in the exposure from the detector, the analysis, and the involved physics are discussed. No tau neutrino candidates have been found. For neutrinos in the energy range 2×1017 eV<Enu<2×1019 eV, assuming a diffuse spectrum of the form Enu-2, data collected between 1 January 2004 and 30 April 2008 yield a 90% confidence-level upper limit of Enu2dNnutau/dEnu<9×10-8 GeV cm-2 s-1 sr-1.

©2009 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.102001
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.79.102001
PACS: 95.55.Vj; 95.85.Ry; 98.70.Sa
  • 95.55.Vj
    Neutrino, muon, pion, and other elementary particle detectors; cosmic ray detectors
  • 95.85.Ry
    Neutrino, muon, pion, and other elementary particle astronomical observations; cosmic rays
  • 98.70.Sa
    Cosmic rays
  • YEAR: 2009

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