Atmospheric neutrino oscillations and tau neutrinos in ice
arXiv:1004.3519 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.81.113008
Abstract
The main goal of the IceCube Deep Core Array is to search for neutrinos of astrophysical origins. Atmospheric neutrinos are commonly considered as a background for these searches. We show here that cascade measurements in the Ice Cube Deep Core Array can provide strong evidence for tau neutrino appearance in atmospheric neutrino oscillations. A careful study of these tau neutrinos is crucial, since they constitute an irreducible background for astrophysical neutrino detection.
5 pages, 3 figures