(Ultra-)High Energy Muon Neutrino Propagation through the Earth and Induced Muon Energy Distribution near the One Cubic Kilometer Detector

TL;DR

This paper models the propagation of high and ultra-high energy muon neutrinos through the Earth, analyzing how their interactions influence muon production and energy distribution near a large detector using Monte Carlo simulations.

Contribution

It provides detailed Monte Carlo simulations of neutrino propagation and muon production at ultra-high energies, considering Earth's interior density variations and neutral current interactions.

Findings

Muon neutrino mean free paths can be comparable to Earth's diameter.

Neutral current interactions significantly affect muon energy distribution.

Deep inelastic scattering impacts muon production depth.

Abstract

We calculate high and (ultra-)high energy upward-going muon neutrino propagation through the Earth and the induced muon energy distribution near the one cubic kilometer detector using the Monte Carlo simulation, due to both charged current interaction and neutral one. The initiated neutrino energies on the surface of the Earth are 1PeV, 1EeV and 1ZeV. The mean free paths of (ultra-)high energy neutrino events generated by the deep inelastic scattering may be comparable with the diameter of the Earth or less than it. Therefore, the induced muon production distribution is influenced by the change of the densities interior to the Earth. Furthermore, in such situation, the contribution from the neutral current neutrino interaction to the induced muon production distribution cannot be neglected. We report several examples of the deep inelastic scattered depth of muon neutrino in the Earth and the induced muon energy distribution near the detector.