Neutrino-nucleus cross sections for W-boson and trident production

TL;DR

This paper provides the first comprehensive calculations of neutrino-induced W-boson and trident production cross sections across a wide energy range, crucial for interpreting high-energy astrophysical neutrino data.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic approach to compute neutrino-nucleus cross sections involving virtual photons and bosons, covering all flavors and energies from 10 GeV to 10^8 GeV, including the first calculations at TeV--PeV energies.

Findings

First complete calculation of W-boson production at high energies.

First calculation of trident production at TeV--PeV energies.

Results align with prior work under similar assumptions.

Abstract

The physics of neutrino-nucleus cross sections is a critical probe of the Standard Model and beyond. A precise understanding is also needed to accurately deduce astrophysical neutrino spectra. At energies above $\sim 5$ GeV, the cross section is dominated by deep inelastic scattering, mediated by weak bosons. In addition, there are subdominant processes where the hadronic coupling is through virtual photons, $\gamma^\ast$: (on-shell) $W$-boson production (e.g., where the underlying interaction is $\nu_\ell + \gamma^\ast \rightarrow \ell^- + W^+$) and trident production (e.g., where it is $\nu + \gamma^\ast \rightarrow \nu + \ell_1^- + \ell_2^+$). These processes become increasingly relevant at TeV--PeV energies. We undertake the first systematic approach to these processes (and those with hadronic couplings through virtual $W$ and $Z$ bosons), treating them together, avoiding common approximations, considering all neutrino flavors and final states, and covering the energy range $10\,$--$10^8$ GeV. In particular, we present the first complete calculation of $W$-boson production and the first calculation of trident production at TeV--PeV energies. When we use the same assumptions as in prior work, we recover all of their major results. In a companion paper, we show that these processes should be taken into account for IceCube-Gen2.