EAS optical Cherenkov signatures of tau neutrinos for space and suborbital detectors

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential of space and suborbital optical Cherenkov detectors to identify tau neutrinos from astrophysical sources by detecting upward air showers caused by tau lepton decay, enhancing multi-messenger astronomy.

Contribution

It compares detection sensitivities of upcoming space-based and balloon-borne Cherenkov detectors for transient and diffuse tau neutrino sources, highlighting their capabilities.

Findings

EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA can detect tau neutrinos from transient sources.

Sensitivity to diffuse neutrino flux is assessed for both detectors.

Detection prospects improve with space-based observatories.

Abstract

Multi-messenger observations of transient astrophysical sources have the potential to characterize the highest energy accelerators and the most extreme environments in the Universe. Detection of neutrinos, in particular tau neutrinos generated by neutrino oscillations in transit from their sources to Earth, is possible for neutrino energies above 10 PeV using optical Cherenkov detectors imaging upward-moving extensive air showers (EAS). These EAS are produced from Earth interacting tau neutrinos leading to tau leptons that subsequently decay in the atmosphere. We compare neutrino detection sensitivities for generic short- and long-burst transient neutrino sources and sensitivities to the diffuse neutrino flux for the second generation Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB2) balloon-borne mission and the proposed space-based Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) mission.