Characterization of the background for a neutrino search with the HAWC observatory

TL;DR

This paper explores using the HAWC observatory's unique location near a volcano to detect neutrino-induced leptons by leveraging the volcano's shielding, developing methods to suppress background noise and enhance neutrino detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel background suppression technique and a model for scattered muons, enabling neutrino searches with HAWC at higher energy thresholds.

Findings

Effective background suppression method developed.

Model describes background from scattered muons.

Potential to detect neutrino-induced leptons with HAWC.

Abstract

The close location of the HAWC observatory to the largest volcano in Mexico allows to perform a search for neutrino-induced horizontal muon and tau charged leptons. The section of the volcano located at the horizon reaches values of slant depth larger than 8 km of rock, making it an excellent shield for the cosmic ray horizontal background. We report the search method and background suppression technique developed for the detection of Earth-skimming neutrinos with HAWC, as well as a model that describes the remaining background produced by scattered muons. We show that by increasing the detection energy threshold we could use HAWC to search for neutrino-induced charged leptons.