Tau Neutrino Astronomy in GeV Energies

Abstract

We point out the opportunity of the tau neutrino astronomy for the neutrino energy E ranging between 10 GeV and 10^3 GeV. In this energy range, the intrinsic tau neutrino production is suppressed relative to the intrinsic muon neutrino production. Any sizable tau neutrino flux may thus arise because of the ν_μ\to ν_τ neutrino oscillations only. It is demonstrated that, in the presence of the neutrino oscillations, consideration of the neutrino flavor dependence in the background atmospheric neutrino flux leads to the drastically different prospects between the observation of the astrophysical muon neutrinos and that of the astrophysical tau neutrinos. Taking the galactic-plane neutrino flux as the targeted astrophysical source, we have found that the galactic-plane tau neutrino flux dominates over the atmospheric tau neutrino flux for E > 10 GeV. Hence, the galactic-plane can at least in principle be seen through the tau neutrinos with energies just greater than 10 GeV. In a sharp contrast, the galactic-plane muon neutrino flux is overwhelmed by its atmospheric background until E > 10^6 GeV.