Prompt atmospheric neutrino flux

TL;DR

This paper calculates the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux considering nuclear effects and B hadron contributions, comparing NLO QCD and dipole models, and analyzing uncertainties from QCD scale variations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed evaluation of the prompt neutrino flux with nuclear corrections and B hadron effects across different theoretical frameworks, including uncertainty analysis.

Findings

Nuclear effects reduce the flux by 10-30% depending on the model.

NLO QCD and dipole models yield consistent flux estimates within uncertainties.

Uncertainty analysis shows dependence on QCD scale choices constrained by collider data.

Abstract

We evaluate the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux including nuclear correction and $B$ hadron contribution in the different frameworks: NLO perturbative QCD and dipole models. The nuclear effect is larger in the prompt neutrino flux than in the total charm production cross section, and it reduces the fluxes by $10\% - 30\%$ depending on the model. We also investigate the uncertainty using the QCD scales allowed by the charm cross section data from RHIC and LHC experiments.