28 August 2023 to 1 September 2023
University of Vienna
Europe/Vienna timezone

Simulating and searching for Heavy Neutral Leptons in IceCube

31 Aug 2023, 17:00
15m
Hörsaal 21 lecture hall (University of Vienna)

Hörsaal 21 lecture hall

University of Vienna

Universitätsring 1 A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Parallel talk Neutrino physics and astrophysics Neutrino physics and astrophysics

Speaker

Julia Book (Harvard University)

Description

Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) are sterile neutrinos posited as an explanation for light neutrino masses. IceCube is uniquely capable of searching for an HNL in the hundreds of MeV to single GeV range by looking for atmospheric tau neutrinos upscattering to HNLs in the detector. The HNLs produced in IceCube would decay quickly, leading to Cherenkov radiation in both production and decay separated by a few meters, producing a “double cascade” signature in the detector. A simulation based on the most up-to-date calculations of HNL decay modes and cross-sections is required to understand the hundreds of MeV to single GeV parameter space for an HNL search. This talk outlines the capabilities of the first HNL simulation for neutrino observatories, and presents sensitivities for IceCube’s HNL search.

Submitted on behalf of a Collaboration? Yes

Authors

Julia Book (Harvard University) Mr Leander Fischer (DESY Zeuthen) Dr Summer Blot (DESY Zeuthen) Prof. Carlos Arguelles Delgado (Harvard University)

Presentation materials