The high-energy galactic tau neutrino flux and its atmospheric background

Abstract

We compare the tau neutrino flux arising from the galaxy and the earth atmosphere for $10^{3} \leq E/\mbox{GeV} \leq 10^{11}$. The intrinsic and oscillated tau neutrino fluxes from both sources are considered. We find that, for E≥ 10³ GeV, the oscillated ν _τ flux along the galactic plane dominates over the maximal intrinsic atmospheric ν _τ flux, i.e., the flux along the horizontal direction. We also briefly comment on the prospects for observing these high-energy tau neutrinos.

PACS: 95.85.Ry Neutrino, muon, pion, and other elementary particles; cosmic rays – 13.85.Tp Cosmic-ray interactions