Flavor Matters, but Matter Flavors: Matter Effects on Flavor Composition of Astrophysical Neutrinos

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Dev, P. S. Bhupal, Jana, Sudip, Porto, Yago
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Dev, P. S. Bhupal
Jana, Sudip
Porto, Yago
author_facet Dev, P. S. Bhupal
Jana, Sudip
Porto, Yago
contents We show that high-energy astrophysical neutrinos produced in the cores of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can undergo strong matter effects, thus significantly influencing their source flavor ratios. In particular, matter effects can completely modify the standard interpretation of the flavor ratio measurements in terms of the physical processes occurring in the sources (e.g., $pp$ versus $pγ$, full pion-decay chain versus muon-damped pion decay). We contrast our results with the existing flavor ratio measurements at IceCube, as well as with projections for next-generation neutrino telescopes like IceCube-Gen2. Signatures of these matter effects in neutrino flavor composition would not only bring more evidence for neutrino production in central AGN regions, but would also be a powerful probe of heavily Compton-thick AGNs, which escape conventional observation in $X$-rays and other electromagnetic wavelengths.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_17315
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Flavor Matters, but Matter Flavors: Matter Effects on Flavor Composition of Astrophysical Neutrinos
Dev, P. S. Bhupal
Jana, Sudip
Porto, Yago
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Experiment
We show that high-energy astrophysical neutrinos produced in the cores of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can undergo strong matter effects, thus significantly influencing their source flavor ratios. In particular, matter effects can completely modify the standard interpretation of the flavor ratio measurements in terms of the physical processes occurring in the sources (e.g., $pp$ versus $pγ$, full pion-decay chain versus muon-damped pion decay). We contrast our results with the existing flavor ratio measurements at IceCube, as well as with projections for next-generation neutrino telescopes like IceCube-Gen2. Signatures of these matter effects in neutrino flavor composition would not only bring more evidence for neutrino production in central AGN regions, but would also be a powerful probe of heavily Compton-thick AGNs, which escape conventional observation in $X$-rays and other electromagnetic wavelengths.
title Flavor Matters, but Matter Flavors: Matter Effects on Flavor Composition of Astrophysical Neutrinos
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.17315