A MC simulation of showers induced by microscopic black holes

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential detection of microscopic black holes through extensive air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory, highlighting significant deviations from Standard Model predictions that could indicate new physics.

Contribution

It provides a simulation-based analysis of black-hole induced air showers and predicts observable deviations in neutrino event rates at a large surface detector.

Findings

Down-going neutrino rates increase by a factor of about 50.

Up-going neutrino rates are nearly suppressed.

Significant deviation from Standard Model predictions in expected event rates.

Abstract

Large surface detectors might be sensitive not only with respect to extensive air showers induced by ultra high energy neutrinos but also to showers induced by hypothetical objects like microscopic black-holes. Microscopic black-holes might be produced in high energy particle collisions with the center of mass energies above the fundamental scale of gravity. These black-holes would decay rapidly by Hawking radiation into characteristic high multiplicity states of Standard Model particles and induce extensive air showers potentially detectable by a large surface neutrino detector. In this paper we study the possibility to detect microscopic black-holes exemplifying it in case of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The expected event rate is calculated for up-going and down-going showers induced by microscopic black-holes. Our calculations show a significant deviation of the expected rate compared to the rate expected by Standard Model predictions. The rates of up-going neutrinos are almost completely suppressed, whereas the rate of down-going neutrinos increase by a factor of about 50 with respect to standard model calculations. The non observation of up-going neutrinos by the Pierre Auger Observatory in conjunction with a high rate of down-going neutrino-induced showers, would be a strong indication of physics beyond the Standard Model.