Ivone F. M. Albuquerque

Neutrino telescopes as a direct probe of supersymmetry breaking

We consider models where the scale of supersymmetry breaking lies between 5 x 10(6) and 5 x 10(8) GeV. In this class of theories, which includes models of mediated supersymmetry breaking, the lightest supersymmetric particle is the gravitino, and the next to lightest is typically a long-lived charged slepton with a lifetime between a microsecond and a second, depending on its mass. We investigate the production of these particles by the diffuse flux of high energy neutrinos colliding with nucleons in the Earth, and the potential for their observation in large ice or water Cerenkov detectors. The small production cross section is partially compensated by the very long range of sleptons. The signal, two well-separated parallel tracks, has very little background. Using the Waxman-Bahcall limit for the neutrino flux results in up to four events a year in km3 experiments.

High energy neutrinos from superheavy dark matter annihilation

Superheavy (M>10{sup 10} GeV) particles produced during inflation may be the dark matter, independent of their interaction strength. Strongly interacting superheavy particles will be captured by the Sun, and their annihilation in the center of the Sun will produce a flux of energetic neutrinos that should be detectable by neutrino telescopes. Depending on the particle mass, event rates in a cubic-kilometer detector range from several per hour to several per year. The signature of the process is a predominance of tau neutrinos, with a relatively flat energy spectrum of events ranging from 50 GeV to many TeV, and with the mean energy of detected tau neutrinos about 3 TeV.

Direct detection of supersymmetric particles in neutrino telescopes

In supersymmetric theories where the lightest supersymmetric particle is the gravitino the next to lightest supersymmetric particle is typically a long-lived charged slepton. In this paper, following our earlier proposal [I. Albuquerque, G. Burdman, and Z. Chacko, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 221802 (2004).], we perform a detailed study of the production of pairs of these particles induced by the interactions of high energy cosmic neutrinos with nucleons in the Earth, their propagation through the Earth, and finally their detection in neutrino telescopes. We investigate the charged slepton energy loss in detail and establish that the relatively small cross section for the production of supersymmetric particles is partially compensated for by the very long range of these heavy particles. The signal, consisting of two parallel charged tracks emerging from the Earth, is characterized by a track separation of a few hundred meters. We perform a careful analysis of the main background, coming from direct di-muon production, and show that it can be separated from the signal due to its characteristically smaller track separation. We conclude that neutrino telescopes will complement collider searches in the determination of the supersymmetry breaking scale, and may even provide the first evidence for supersymmetry at themorexa0» weak scale.«xa0less

Closing the window on strongly interacting dark matter with IceCube

We use the recent results on dark matter searches of the 22-string IceCube detector to probe the remaining allowed window for strongly interacting dark matter in the mass range 10{sup 4}<m{sub X}<10{sup 15} GeV. We calculate the expected signal in the 22-string IceCube detector from the annihilation of such particles captured in the Sun and compare it to the detected background. As a result, the remaining allowed region in the mass versus cross section parameter space is ruled out. We also show the expected sensitivity of the complete IceCube detector with 86 strings.

GZK Cutoff Distortion Due To The Energy Error Distribution Shape

The development of an ultra high energy air shower has an intrinsic energy fluctuation due both to the first interaction point and to the cascade development. Here we show that for a given primary energy this air shower energy fluctuation has a lognormal distribution and thus observations will estimate that primary energy with a lognormal error distribution. We analyze the UHECR energy spectrum convolved with the lognormal energy error and demonstrate that the shape of the error distribution will interfere significantly with the ability to observe features in the spectrum. If the standard deviation of the lognormal error distribution is equal or larger than 0.25, both the shape and the normalization of the measured energy spectra will be modified significantly. As a consequence the GZK cutoff might be sufficiently smeared as not to be seen (without very high statistics). This result is independent of the power law of the cosmological flux. As a conclusion we show that in order to establish the presence or not of the GZK feature, not only more data are needed but also that the shape of the energy error distribution has to be known well. The high energy tail and the sigma of the approximate lognormal distribution of the error in estimating the energy must be at the minimum set by the physics of showers. PACs 96.40.De,96.40.Pq

Astrophysical Neutrino Event Rates and Sensitivity for Neutrino Telescopes

Spectacular processes in astrophysical sites produce high-energy cosmic rays which are further accelerated by Fermi-shocks into a power-law spectrum. These, in passing through radiation fields and matter, produce neutrinos. Neutrino telescopes are designed with large detection volumes to observe such astrophysical sources. A large volume is necessary because the fluxes and cross-sections are small. We estimate various telescopes sensitivities and expected event rates from astrophysical sources of high-energy neutrinos. We find that an ideal detector of km^2 incident area can be sensitive to a flux of neutrinos integrated over energy from 10^5 and 10^{7} GeV as low as 1.3 * 10^(-8) * E^(-2) (GeV/cm^2 s sr) which is three times smaller than the Waxman-Bachall conservative upper limit on potential neutrino flux. A real detector will have degraded performance. Detection from known point sources is possible but unlikely unless there is prior knowledge of the source location and neutrino arrival time.

Measuring atmospheric neutrino oscillations with neutrino telescopes

Neutrino telescopes with large detection volumes can demonstrate whether the current indications of neutrino oscillation are correct or if a better description can be achieved with nonstandard alternatives. Observations of contained muons produced by atmospheric neutrinos can better constrain the allowed region for oscillations or determine the relevant parameters of nonstandard models. We analyze the possibility of neutrino telescopes measuring atmospheric neutrino oscillations. We suggest adjustments to improve this potential. An addition of four densely instrumented strings to the AMANDA II detector makes oscillation observations feasible. Such a configuration is competitive with current and proposed experiments.

Direct detection of Kaluza-Klein particles in neutrino telescopes

In theories with universal extra dimensions, all standard model fields propagate in the bulk and the lightest state of the first Kaluza-Klein (KK) level can be made stable by imposing a Z{sub 2} parity. We consider a framework where the lightest KK particle (LKP) is a neutral, extremely weakly interacting particle such as the first KK excitation of the graviton, while the next-to-lightest KK particle (NLKP) is the first KK mode of a charged right-handed lepton. In such a scenario, due to its very small couplings to the LKP, the NLKP is long-lived. We investigate the production of these particles from the interaction of high energy neutrinos with nucleons in the Earth and determine the rate of NLKP events in neutrino telescopes. Using the Waxman-Bahcall limit for the neutrino flux, we find that the rate can be as large as a few hundreds of events a year for realistic values of the NLKP mass.

Neutrino telescopes' sensitivity to dark matter

The nature of the dark matter of the Universe is yet unknown and most likely is connected with new physics. The search for its composition is underway through direct and indirect detection. Fundamental physical aspects such as energy threshold, geometry and location are taken into account to investigate proposed neutrino telescopes of

Erratum: Direct Detection Constraints on Superheavy Dark Matter [Phys. Rev. Lett.90, 221301 (2003)]

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