118208265
On the Sensitivity of Neutrino Telescopes to a Modified Dispersion Relation
We consider a modified dispersion relation and its effect on the flavour ratios of high‐energy neutrinos originated at distant astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei. This dispersion relation arise naturally in different new physics (NP) effects such as violation of CPT invariance, of the equivalence principle and of Lorentz invariance. It is a common notion in the literature that by using the flux of high‐energy neutrinos expected from distant astrophysical sources, the sensitivity to possible NP effects may be improved beyond the current bounds. However, performing a realistic analysis that takes into account the expected number of events in future neutrino telescopes, we find that the average detected flavour ratios with and without the inclusion of new physics have essentially the same value, making difficult to obtain an improved bound for this type of new physics.
3054517
Neutrino and cosmic-ray emission from multiple internal shocks in gamma-ray bursts.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short-lived, luminous explosions at cosmological distances, thought to originate from relativistic jets launched at the deaths of massive stars. They are among the prime candidates to produce the observed cosmic rays at the highest energies. Recent neutrino data have, however, started to constrain this possibility in the simplest models with only one emission zone. In the classical theory of GRBs, it is expected that particles are accelerated at mildly relativistic shocks generated by the collisions of material ejected from a central engine. Here we consider neutrino and cosmic-ray emission from multiple emission regions since these internal collisions must occur at very different radii, from below the photosphere all the way out to the circumburst medium, as a consequence of the efficient dissipation of kinetic energy. We demonstrate that the different messengers originate from different collision radii, which means that multi-messenger observations open windows for revealing the evolving GRB outflows.
119193172
IceCube expectations for two high-energy neutrino production models at active galactic nuclei
We have determined the currently allowed regions of the parameter spaces of two representative models of diffuse neutrino flux from active galactic nuclei (AGN): one by Koers and Tinyakov (KT) and another by Becker and Biermann (BB). Our observable has been the number of upgoing muon-neutrinos expected in the 86-string IceCube detector, after 5 years of exposure, in the range 10{sup 5} ≤ E{sub ν}/GeV ≤ 10{sup 8}. We have used the latest estimated discovery potential of the IceCube-86 array at the 5σ level to determine the lower boundary of the regions, while for the upper boundary we have used either the AMANDA upper bound on the neutrino flux or the more recent preliminary upper bound given by the half-completed IceCube-40 array (IC40). We have varied the spectral index of the proposed power-law fluxes, α, and two parameters of the BB model: the ratio between the boost factors of neutrinos and cosmic rays, Γ{sub ν}/Γ{sub CR}, and the maximum redshift of the sources that contribute to the cosmic-ray flux, z{sub CR}{sup max}. For the KT model, we have considered two scenarios: one in which the number density of AGN does not evolve with redshift and another in which it evolvesmore » strongly, following the star formation rate. Using the IC40 upper bound, we have found that the models are visible in IceCube-86 only inside very thin strips of parameter space and that both of them are discarded at the preferred value of α = 2.7 obtained from fits to cosmic-ray data. Lower values of α, notably the values 2.0 and 2.3 proposed in the literature, fare better. In addition, we have analysed the capacity of IceCube-86 to discriminate between the models within the small regions of parameter space where both of them give testable predictions. Within these regions, discrimination at the 5σ level or more is guaranteed.« less
54497472
Are gamma-ray bursts the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays?
Abstract We reconsider the possibility that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the sources of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) within the internal shock model, assuming a pure proton composition of the UHECRs. For the first time, we combine the information from gamma-rays, cosmic rays, prompt neutrinos, and cosmogenic neutrinos quantitatively in a joint cosmic ray production and propagation model, and we show that the information on the cosmic energy budget can be obtained as a consequence. In addition to the neutron model, we consider alternative scenarios for the cosmic ray escape from the GRBs, i.e., that cosmic rays can leak from the sources. We find that the dip model, which describes the ankle in UHECR observations by the pair production dip, is strongly disfavored in combination with the internal shock model because (a) unrealistically high baryonic loadings (energy in protons versus energy in electrons/gamma-rays) are needed for the individual GRBs and (b) the prompt neutrino flux easily overshoots the corresponding neutrino bound. On the other hand, GRBs may account for the UHECRs in the ankle transition model if cosmic rays leak out from the source at the highest energies. In that case, we demonstrate that future neutrino observations can efficiently test most of the parameter space – unless the baryonic loading is much larger than previously anticipated.
119216451
UHE neutrino and cosmic ray emission from GRBs: revising the models and clarifying the cosmic ray-neutrino connection
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have long been held as one of the most promising sources of ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrinos. The internal shock model of GRB emission posits the joint production of UHE cosmic ray (UHECRs, above 10^8 GeV), photons, and neutrinos, through photohadronic interactions between source photons and magnetically-confined energetic protons, that occur when relativistically-expanding matter shells loaded with baryons collide with one another. While neutrino observations by IceCube have now ruled out the simplest version of the internal shock model, we show that a revised calculation of the emission, together with the consideration of the full photohadronic cross section and other particle physics effects, results in a prediction of the prompt GRB neutrino flux that still lies one order of magnitude below the current upper bounds, as recently exemplified by the results from ANTARES. In addition, we show that by allowing protons to directly escape their magnetic confinement without interacting at the source, we are able to partially decouple the cosmic ray and prompt neutrino emission, which grants the freedom to fit the UHECR observations while respecting the neutrino upper bounds. Finally, we briefly present advances towards pinning down the precise relation between UHECRs and UHE neutrinos, including the baryonic loading required to fit UHECR observations, and we will assess the role that very large volume neutrino telescopes play in this.
6969327
Energy-independent new physics in the flavour ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos
We have studied the consequences of breaking the CPT symmetry in the neutrino sector, using the expected high-energy neutrino flux from distant cosmological sources such as active galaxies. For this purpose we have assumed three different hypotheses for the neutrino production model, characterised by the flavour fluxes at production ϕ0e: ϕ0μ: ϕ0τ = 1 : 2 : 0, 0 : 1 : 0, and 1 : 0 : 0, and studied the theoretical and experimental expectations for the muon-neutrino flux at Earth, ϕμ, and for the flavour ratios at Earth, R = ϕμ/ϕe and S = ϕτ /ϕμ. CPT violation (CPTV) has been implemented by adding an energy-independent term to the standard neutrino oscillation Hamiltonian. This introduces three new mixing angles, two new eigenvalues and three new phases, all of which have currently unknown values. We have varied the new mixing angles and eigenvalues within certain bounds, together with the parameters associated to pure standard oscillations. Our results indicate that, for the models 1 : 2 : 0 and 0 : 1 : 0, it might be possible to find large deviations of ϕμ, R, and S between the cases without and with CPTV, provided the CPTV eigenvalues lie within 10−29 − 10−27 GeV, or above. Moreover, if CPTV exists, there are certain values of R and S that can be accounted for by up to three production models. If no CPTV were observed, we could set limits on the CPTV eigenvalues of the same order. Detection prospects calculated using IceCube suggest that for the models 1 : 2 : 0 and 0 : 1 : 0, the modifications due to CPTV are larger and more clearly separable from the standard-oscillations predictions. We conclude that IceCube is potentially able to detect CPTV but that, depending on the values of the CPTV parameters, there could be a mis-determination of the neutrino production model.
12564971
Multi-Lagrangians, hereditary operators and Lax pairs for the Korteweg–de Vries positive and negative hierarchies
We present an approach to the construction of action principles (the inverse problem of the calculus of variations), for first order (in time derivatives) differential equations, and generalize it to field theory in order to construct systematically, for integrable equations which are based on the existence of a Nijenhuis (or hereditary) operator, a (multi-Lagrangian) ladder of action principles which is complementary to the well-known multi-Hamiltonian formulation. We work out results for the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation, which is a member of the positive hierarchy related to a hereditary operator. Three negative hierarchies of (negative) evolution equations are defined naturally from the hereditary operator as well, in a concise way, suitable for field theory. The Euler–Lagrange equations arising from the action principles are equivalent to deformations of the original evolution equation, and the deformations are obtained explicitly in terms of the positive and negative evolution vectors. We recogni...