An improved muon track reconstruction for IceCube

TL;DR

This paper introduces an improved muon track reconstruction method for IceCube that accounts for stochastic energy losses, resulting in approximately 20% better angular resolution in detecting astrophysical neutrinos.

Contribution

It presents a novel parametrization of muon energy loss that enhances the accuracy of muon track reconstruction in IceCube.

Findings

20% improvement in muon angular resolution

More realistic modeling of muon energy loss

Enhanced identification of astrophysical neutrinos

Abstract

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope operating at the South Pole. One of its main objectives is to detect astrophysical neutrinos and identify their sources. High-energy muon neutrinos are identified through the secondary muons produced via charge current interactions with the ice. The present best-performing directional reconstruction of the muon track is a maximum likelihood method which uses the arrival time distribution of Cherenkov photons registered by the experiment's photomultipliers. A known systematic shortcoming of the prevailing method is to assume a continuous energy loss along the muon track. This contribution discusses a generalized Ansatz where the expected arrival time distribution is parametrized by a stochastic muon energy loss pattern. This more realistic parametrization of the muon energy loss profile leads to an improvement of about 20% to the muon angular resolution of IceCube.