Search for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube data

Simple item page
dc.contributorToale, Patrick A.
dc.contributorPiepke, Andreas
dc.contributorOkada, Nobuchika
dc.contributorBao, Yuping
dc.contributor.advisorWilliams, Dawn R.
dc.contributor.authorXu, Donglian
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-01T17:23:25Z
dc.date.available2017-03-01T17:23:25Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractHigh-energy cosmic neutrinos are expected to be produced in extremely energetic astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and gamma ray bursts (GRBs). The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has recently detected a diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux at 5.7σ significance. One of the outstanding questions regarding astrophysical neutrinos is their flavor composition. Most standard oscillation scenarios predict tau neutrinos (υ_τ) in the astrophysical flux, which have a negligible background from cosmic ray induced atmospheric neutrinos. This work reports a search for high-energy astrophysical υ_τ with the IceCube neutrino observatory. This analysis has devised a new method to search for astrophysical υ_τ in the IceCube waveforms, and it is the first υ_τ analysis in IceCube that is more sensitive to a υ_τ flux than other neutrino flavors. A total of three years of data was used, yielding a sensitivity of 5.1 x 10^-8 GeV cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 near the PeV region assuming a flux limit of E^2 Φ_υ < 1.0 x 10^-8 GeV cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 per neutrino flavor. Zero events were found. Differential upper limits for astrophysical υ_τ are derived in the Ο(100) TeV to Ο(10) PeV regime based on the zero findings.en_US
dc.format.extent178 p.
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0001906
dc.identifier.otherXu_alatus_0004D_12324
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/2332
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.subjectParticle physics
dc.titleSearch for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube dataen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Physics and Astronomy
etdms.degree.disciplinePhysics
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.leveldoctoral
etdms.degree.namePh.D.

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
file_1.pdf
Size:
15.77 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations - Department of Physics & Astronomy