Neutrinos from muon-rich ultra high energy electromagnetic cascades: The MUNHECA code

TL;DR

The paper introduces MUNHECA, a Python code that models neutrino production from ultra high energy electromagnetic cascades, accounting for detailed QED processes in various astrophysical environments.

Contribution

It provides a new, detailed computational tool for neutrino spectrum prediction from electromagnetic cascades, improving upon previous simplified models.

Findings

MUNHECA accurately models neutrino spectra considering multiple QED processes.

The code allows flexible input parameters for different astrophysical scenarios.

Comparison shows MUNHECA's results differ from earlier estimates, highlighting the importance of detailed modeling.

Abstract

An ultra high energy electromagnetic cascade, a purely leptonic process and initiated by either photons or $e^\pm$, can be a source of high energy neutrinos. We present a public python3 code, MUNHECA, to compute the neutrino spectrum by taking into account various QED processes, with the cascade developing either along the propagation in the cosmic microwave background in the high-redshift universe or in a predefined photon background surrounding the astrophysical source. The user can adjust various settings of MUNHECA, including the spectrum of injected high energy photons, the background photon field and the QED processes governing the cascade evolution. We improve the modeling of several processes, provide examples of the execution of MUNHECA and compare it with some earlier and more simplified estimates of the neutrino spectrum from electromagnetic cascades.