Astrophysical flux of dark particles as a solution to the KM3NeT and IceCube tension over KM3-230213A

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model where dark particles produced by astrophysical sources create detectable signals in neutrino telescopes, potentially resolving the tension between IceCube and KM3NeT observations of ultra-high-energy muons.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel dark flux scenario involving metastable particles that decay into muons, explaining KM3NeT's observations without conflicting with IceCube data.

Findings

The model can account for the KM3NeT ultra-high-energy muon event.

The scenario explains the observational discrepancy between IceCube and KM3NeT.

Decays of metastable particles produce detectable muon signatures in neutrino telescopes.

Abstract

We entertain the possibility that transient astrophysical sources can produce a flux of dark particles that induce ultra-high-energy signatures at neutrino telescopes such as IceCube and KM3NeT. We construct scenarios where such ``dark flux" can produce meta-stable dark particles inside the Earth that subsequently decay to muons, inducing through-going tracks in large-volume neutrino detectors. We consider such a scenario in light of the $\mathcal{O}(70)$~PeV ultra-high-energy muon observed by KM3NeT and argue that because of its location in the sky and the strong geometrical dependence of the signal, such events would not necessarily have been observed by IceCube. Our model relies on the upscattering of a new particle $X$ onto new metastable particles that decay to dimuons with decay lengths of $\mathcal{O}(100)$~km. This scenario can explain the observation by KM3NeT without being in conflict with the IceCube data.