The Passage of Ultrarelativistic Neutralinos through the Matter of the Moon

TL;DR

This paper explores using the Moon's outer layer as a detector for ultra-high energy neutrinos and neutralinos, proposing radio wave detection could observe these particles within a year.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of detecting ultra-high energy particles using the Moon as a natural detector volume, focusing on neutralinos as LSPs.

Findings

Radio wave detection could observe neutralino events within a year

Event rates for UHE neutrinos and neutralinos are significant in top-down models

The Moon can serve as an effective natural detector for ultra-high energy particles

Abstract

I consider the prospect to use the outer layer of the Moon as a detector volume for ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrino fluxes and the flux of the lightest neutralino which I assume is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). For this purpose, I calculate the event rates of these fluxes for top-down scenarios. I show that a suitable experiment for the detection of radio waves might be able to detect sufficient event rates after a measurement period of one year.