Constraints and tests of the OPERA superluminal neutrinos

The superluminal neutrinos detected by OPERA indicate Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) of the neutrino sector at the order of 10(-5). We study the implications of the result in this work. We find that such a large LIV implied by OPERA data will make the neutrino production process π → μ + ν(μ) kinematically forbidden for a neutrino energy greater than about 5 GeV. The OPERA detection of neutrinos at 40 GeV can constrain the LIV parameter to be smaller than 3×10(-7). Furthermore, the neutrino decay in the LIV framework will modify the neutrino spectrum greatly. The atmospheric neutrino spectrum measured by the IceCube Collaboration can constrain the LIV parameter to the level of 10(-12). The future detection of astrophysical neutrinos of galactic sources is expected to be able to give an even stronger constraint on the LIV parameter of neutrinos.     

Astroparticle physics with high energy neutrinos: from AMANDA to IceCube

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature produces protons and photons with energies in excess of 10²⁰ eV and 10¹³ eV, respectively. The puzzle of where and how Nature accelerates the highest energy cosmic particles is unresolved almost a century after their discovery. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. In this context, we discuss the first results of the completed AMANDA detector and the science reach of its extension, IceCube. Similar experiments are under construction in the Mediterranean. Neutrino astronomy is also expanding in new directions with efforts to detect air showers, acoustic and radio signals initiated by super-EeV neutrinos. The outline of this review is as follows:

Introduction

Why kilometer-scale detectors?

Cosmic neutrinos associated with the highest energy cosmic rays

High energy neutrino telescopes: methodologies of neutrino detection

High energy neutrino telescopes: status

     

太阳大耀斑期间甚高能粒子流强增加的一种机制

近年来,在太阳大耀班期间,由地面中子记录装置及地下不同深度μ子记录器记录到宇宙线粒子的短期增长(GLE)现象,其能量范围已达几百GeV,甚至可达TeV能区.本文讨论了TeV能区的增长现象可能是银河宇宙线部分粒子获得再加速,由于宇宙线粒子能谱很陡,几百GeV的再加速能量能使TeV以上能区宇宙线流强有明显增长.     

The TeV-scale cosmic ray proton and helium spectra: Contributions from the local sources

Recent measurements of cosmic ray proton and helium spectra show a hardening above a few hundreds of GeV. This excess is hard to understand in the framework of the conventional models of galactic cosmic ray production and propagation. Here, we propose to explain this anomaly by the presence of local sources. Cosmic ray propagation is described as a diffusion process taking place inside a two-zone magnetic halo. We calculate the proton and helium fluxes at the Earth between 50 GeV and 100 TeV. Improving over a similar analysis, we consistently derive these fluxes by taking into account both local and remote sources for which a unique injection rate is assumed. We find cosmic ray propagation parameters for which the proton and helium spectra remarkably agree with the PAMELA and CREAM measurements over four decades in energy.     

Diffusion of cosmic rays in a model with interstellar turbulence damping due to interaction with energetic particles

A self-consistent model of galactic cosmic ray transport is considered. The resonance wave–particle interaction in this model causes a cascade of magnetosonic waves to decay in the interstellar medium. The calculated coefficient of diffusion of cosmic rays in the Galaxy has a characteristic minimum at an energy of several GeV/nucleon, which agrees with the empirical diffusion model of cosmic ray propagation.     

A future project at tibet: the large high altitude air shower observatory (LHAASO)

Gamma ray source detection above 30 TeV is an encouraging approach for finding galactic cosmic ray sources. All sky survey for gamma ray sources using wide field of view detector is essential for population accumulation for various types of sources above 100 GeV. In order to target those goals, a large air shower particle detector array of 1 km~2 (the LHAASO project) at 4300 m a.s.l, is proposed. By adding two MagicII-type telescopes in the array as proposed, LHAASO will be enhanced in source morphologic investigation power. The proposed array will be utilized also for energy spectrum measurement for individual cosmic ray species above 30 TeV. By re-configuring the wide field of view telescopes into fluorescence light detector array, the aperture of the detector array can be enlarged to cover an energy region above 100 PeV where the second knee is located. Cosmic ray spectrum and composition will be measured in order to transfer an energy scale to ultra high energy cosmic ray experiments.     

Evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from a region of the galactic plane

Gamma-ray emission from a narrow band at the galactic equator has previously been detected up to 30 GeV. We report evidence for a TeV gamma-ray signal from a region of the galactic plane by Milagro, a large-field-of-view water Cherenkov detector for extensive air showers. An excess with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations has been observed from the region of galactic longitude l E (40 degrees, 100 degrees) and latitude /b/ < 5 degrees. Under the assumption of a simple power law spectrum, with no cutoff in the EGRET-Milagro energy range, the measured integral flux is phi gamma(>3.5 TeV) = (6.4 +/- 1.4 +/- 2.1) x 10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). This flux is consistent with an extrapolation of the EGRET spectrum between 1 and 30 GeV in this galactic region.     

A Statistic Model for Galactic Cosmic Rays

Supposed that all of cosmic ray particles of energy below 3×10¹⁸eV are mainly originated and accelerated in an individual explosion of the galactic supernovae(SNs).By using an isotropic diffusion propagation model,non-steady state density of the iron nucleus is investigated.Considering the effect of extra-galactic cosmic rays and the variety of the galactic cosmic ray nuclei,the statistic model of galactic cosmic rays with a reasonable distribution of the SNs in space and time can account for the spectrum of cosmic ray in the energy range of 10¹²—10²⁰eV quitewell.     

Cosmic ray anisotropy in fractional differential models of anomalous diffusion

The problem of galactic cosmic ray anisotropy is considered in two versions of the fractional differential model for anomalous diffusion. The simplest problem of cosmic ray propagation from a point instantaneous source in an unbounded medium is used as an example to show that the transition from the standard diffusion model to the Lagutin-Uchaikin fractional differential model (with characteristic exponent α = 3/5 and a finite velocity of free particle motion), which gives rise to a knee in the energy spectrum at 10⁶ GeV, increases the anisotropy coefficient only by 20%, while the anisotropy coefficient in the Lagutin-Tyumentsev model (with exponents α = 0.3 and β = 0.8, a long stay of particles in traps, and an infinite velocity of their jumps) is close to one. This is because the parameters of the Lagutin-Tyumentsev model have been chosen improperly.     

Is dark matter visible by galactic gamma rays?

The EGRET excess in the diffuse galactic gamma ray data above 1 GeV shows all features expected from dark matter WIMP annihilation: (a) It is present and has the same spectrum in all sky directions, not just in the galactic plane. (b) The intensity of the excess shows the 1/r ² profile expected for a flat rotation curve outside the galactic disc with an additionally interesting substructure in the disc in the form of a doughnut-shaped ring at 14 kpc from the centre of the galaxy. At this radius a ring of stars indicates the probable infall of a dwarf galaxy, which can explain the increase in DM density. From the spectral shape of the excess the WIMP mass is estimated to be between 50 and 100 GeV, while from the intensity the halo profile is reconstructed. Given the mass and intensity of the WIMPs the mass of the ring can be calculated, which is shown to explain the peculiar change of slope in the rotation curve at about 11 kpc. These results are model-independent in the sense that only the known shapes of signal and background were fitted with free normalization factors, thus being independent of model-dependent flux calculations. The statistical significance is more than 10σ in comparison with a fit of the conventional galactic model to the EGRET data. These signals of dark matter annihilation are compatible with supersymmetry including all electroweak constraints. The statistical significance combined with all features mentioned above provide an intriguing hint that the EGRET excess is indeed a signal from dark matter annihilation.     

PAMELA,FGST and sub-TeV dark matter

PAMELA's observation that the cosmic ray positron fraction increases rapidly with energy implies the presence of primary sources of energetic electron–positron pairs. Of particular interest is the possibility that dark matter annihilations in the halo of the Milky Way provide this anomalous flux of antimatter. The recent measurement of the cosmic ray electron spectrum by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, however, can be used to constrain the nature of any such dark matter particle. In particular, it has been argued that in order to accommodate the observations of Fermi and provide the PAMELA positron excess, annihilating dark matter particles must be as massive as ∼1 TeV or heavier. In this Letter, we revisit Fermi's electron spectrum measurement within the context of annihilating dark matter, focusing on masses in the range of 100–1000 GeV, and considering effects such as variations in the astrophysical backgrounds from the presence of local cosmic ray accelerators, and the finite energy resolution of the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. When these factors are taken into account, we find that dark matter particles as light as ∼300 GeV can be capable of generating the positron fraction observed by PAMELA.     

A search for sterile neutrinos with the latest cosmological observations

We report the result of a search for sterile neutrinos with the latest cosmological observations. Both cases of massless and massive sterile neutrinos are considered in the \(\Lambda \)CDM cosmology. The cosmological observations used in this work include the Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the Hubble constant direct measurement data, the Planck Sunyaev–Zeldovich cluster counts data, the Planck lensing data, and the cosmic shear data. We find that the current observational data give a hint of the existence of massless sterile neutrino (as dark radiation) at the 1.44\(\sigma \) level, and the consideration of an extra massless sterile neutrino can indeed relieve the tension between observations and improve the cosmological fit. For the case of massive sterile neutrino, the observations give a rather tight upper limit on the mass, which implies that actually a massless sterile neutrino is more favored. Our result is consistent with the recent result of neutrino oscillation experiment done by the Daya Bay and MINOS collaborations, as well as the recent result of cosmic ray experiment done by the IceCube collaboration.     

Very Local Interstellar Spectra for Galactic Electrons,Protons and Helium

The local interstellar spectra (LIS) for cosmic rays at energies below ～30 GeV/nuc are increasingly obscured from view at Earth by solar modulation, the lower the energy becomes. These charged particles encounter significant changes in the heliosphere, over an 11-year cycle, which include processes such as convection, diffusion, adiabatic energy losses and gradient, curvature and current sheet drifts. Particle drifts cause charge-sign-dependent modulation and a 22-year cycle, adding complexity to determining the respective very LIS from observations only at Earth. However, with measurements now made by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in the vicinity of the heliopause, it is possible to determine a very LIS for galactic electrons between ～5 and ～120 MeV. At these low energies, also galactic protons observed in the outer heliosphere had been completely obscured by the so-called anomalous component which is accelerated inside the heliosheath. Since August 2012, these anomalous cosmic rays are substantially depleted at Voyager 1 so that for cosmic ray ions, it is now possible to obtain a lower limit to their very LIS. Combining numerical modelling of solar modulation with the accurate measurements by the PAMELA mission and with Voyager observations, the lower limit of the very LIS for electrons, protons and helium and other ions can be determined from ～5 MeV and above. These spectra are called heliopause spectra which is considered to be the lowest possible very LIS. Also, from an astrophysics point of view, the determination of what can be called a very LIS, not just an averaged galactic spectrum, is encouraging. The mentioned aspects are discussed, focusing on a comparison of recent heliospheric observations and corresponding solar modulation modelling.     

Cross section dependence of event rates at neutrino telescopes

We examine the dependence of event rates at neutrino telescopes on the neutrino-nucleon cross section for neutrinos with energy above 1 PeV, and contrast the results with those for cosmic ray experiments. Scaling of the standard model cross sections leaves the rate of upward events essentially unchanged. Details, such as detector depth and cross section inelasticity, can influence rates. Numerical estimates of upward shower, muon, and tau event rates in the IceCube detector confirm these results.     

Nonlinear increase in the energy input into a medium at the fusion of regularized femtosecond filaments

We consider dark matter consisting of long-living particles with masses 10⁷ GeV ? M ?10¹⁶ GeV decaying through hadronic channel as a source of high-energy neutrino. Using recent data on high-energy neutrino from IceCube and Pierre Auger experiments, we derive the upper-limits on neutrino flux from dark matter decay and constraints on dark matter parameter space. For the dark matter masses of order 10⁸ GeV the constraints derived are slightly stronger than those obtained for the same dark matter model using the highenergy gamma-ray limits.     

Recent Highlights from IceCube

The ~1 km ³ IceCube neutrino observatory was completed in December, 2010 and is taking data on cosmic-ray muons and neutrinos, extraterrestrial neutrinos, and setting limits on a variety of exotic phenomena. This proceeding will cover recent IceCube results, with an emphasis on cosmic rays and on searches for extraterrestrial neutrinos, with a stress on results presented at the 2013 International Cosmic Ray Conference.     

IceCube Neutrinos: from Oscillations to PeV-Energy Events

With IceCube and its low-energy extension DeepCore, a neutrino detector with an energy reach from tens of gigaelectronvolt to exaelectronvolt has been commissioned. It measures the atmospheric neutrino spectrum from the lower energies where neutrinos oscillate to energies as large as 100 TeV with a statistic of more than 100,000 events per year. The initial results suggest that IceCube can measure the oscillation parameters in an energy range that exceeds existing observations by 1 order of magnitude, thus opening a new window on neutrino physics. We emphasize the search for sterile neutrinos particularly relevant to cosmology. We also discuss the first observation of (PEV) petaelectronvolt-Energy events that cannot be accommodated by the flux anticipated by extrapolation of the present atmospheric neutrino measurements.     

New physics, the cosmic ray spectrum knee, and pp cross section measurements

We explore the possibility that a new-physics interaction can provide an explanation for the knee just above 10⁶ GeV in the cosmic ray spectrum. We model the new-physics modifications to the total proton–proton cross section with an incoherent term that allows for missing energy above the scale of new physics. We add the constraint that the new physics must also be consistent with published pp cross section measurements, using cosmic ray observations, an order of magnitude and more above the knee. We find that the rise in cross section required at energies above the knee is radical. The increase in cross section suggests that it may be more appropriate to treat the scattering process in the black disc limit at such high energies. In this case there may be no clean separation between the standard model and new-physics contributions to the total cross section. We model the missing energy in this limit and find a good fit to the Tibet III cosmic ray flux data. We comment on testing the new-physics proposal for the cosmic ray knee at the Large Hadron Collider.     

Probing a supersymmetric model for neutrino masses at ultrahigh energy neutrino telescopes

A bilinear R-parity breaking SUSY model for neutrino mass and mixing predicts the lightest superparticle to decay mainly into a pair of tau leptons or b quarks along with a neutrino for relatively light SUSY spectra. This leads to a distinctive triple bang signature of SUSY events at ultrahigh energy neutrino telescopes like IceCube or Antares. While the expected signal size is only marginal at IceCube, it will be promising for a future multi-km³ size neutrino telescope.