Speaker
Description
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory identifies muon neutrinos through their characteristic long tracks, produced by high-energy muons resulting from charged current (CC) interactions. Similarly, approximately 17% of tau neutrinos interacting via CC interactions produce tauons that decay into muons, also leaving long tracks. However, the energy distribution between the hadronic showers and the muon differs between muon neutrino and tau neutrino CC interactions. By carefully reconstructing the hadronic shower energy (inelasticity), it is possible to statistically distinguish tau neutrinos from muon neutrinos. In this study, we analyze a low-energy IceCube track sample, covering the energy range of 500 GeV to 20 TeV, to search for tau neutrinos—potentially the lowest-energy astrophysical neutrino signals.
