Charm hadroproduction in the atmosphere, QCD and neutrino astronomy
by
Maria Vittoria Garzelli
→
Europe/Berlin
seminar room 2, building 2A (DESY Hamburg)
seminar room 2, building 2A
DESY Hamburg
Description
Results from the IceCube experiment have brought in the last few years increasing evidence for the presence of a high-energy diffuse neutrino flux, whose origin is currently object of strong debate. The correct interpretation of this signal, which is going to be probed even by further experiments in neutrino astronomy, may allow for fundamental progress, since neutrinos, due to their weak interaction properties, are messengers capable of bringing precious direct information from astrophysical sources located far away in the Universe.
In this talk we focus on the calculation of high-energy neutrino fluxes produced in the Earth's atmosphere, an indispensable background in order to disentangle the flux components produced in astrophysical contexts far away from the Earth. Taking into account that most of the atmospheric neutrinos at the highest IceCube energies are the result of intermediate charm production and decay, we show how QCD can be used to compute quantities of relevance for astroparticle physics, in a truly interdisciplinary effort.
