Measuring total neutrino cross section with IceCube at intermediate energies ($\sim$100 GeV to a few TeV)

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel measurement of the neutrino cross section in the intermediate energy range (100 GeV to a few TeV) using IceCube data, filling a gap between accelerator and high-energy measurements.

Contribution

It introduces an advanced energy reconstruction method tailored for intermediate energies and applies it to IceCube muon neutrino data to measure the cross section.

Findings

First experimental measurement in the intermediate energy range

Demonstrates the effectiveness of full photon propagation modeling

Provides data to improve neutrino interaction models

Abstract

Whether studying neutrinos for their own sake or as a messenger particle, neutrino cross sections are critically important for numerous analyses. On the low energy side, measurements from accelerator experiments reach up to a few 100s of GeV. On the high energy side, neutrino-earth absorption measurements extend down to a few TeV. The intermediate energy range has yet to be measured experimentally. This work is made possible by the linear relationship between the event rate and cross section, and will utilize IceCube muon neutrino data collected between 2010 and 2018. An advanced energy reconstruction, tailored to the unique properties of the energy range and using the full description of photon propagation in ice, is applied to an event sample of neutrino-induced through-going muons to perform a forward folding analysis.