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| author | Shivesh Mandalia <shivesh.mandalia@outlook.com> | 2020-03-03 02:36:22 +0000 |
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diff --git a/docs/source/physics.rst b/docs/source/physics.rst index 528215d..ed603f2 100644 --- a/docs/source/physics.rst +++ b/docs/source/physics.rst @@ -5,3 +5,440 @@ ******* Physics ******* + +Neutrinos +========= + +Introduction +------------ +The name *neutrino* was coined to describe a then hypothetical particle +suggested by Wolfgang Pauli in the 1930's [1]_. Pauli's idea was that of a +neutral, weakly interacting particle having a very small mass. He proposed this +particle could be used to explain the spectrum of electrons emitted by +:math:`\beta`-decays of atomic nuclei, which was of considerable controversy at +the time. The observed spectrum of these electrons is continuous [2]_, which is +incompatible with the two-body decay description successfully used to describe +discrete spectral lines in :math:`\alpha`- and :math:`\gamma`- decay of atomic +nuclei. As Pauli observed, by describing :math:`\beta`-decay as a three-body +decay instead, releasing both an electron and his proposed particle, one can +explain the continuous :math:`\beta`-decay spectrum. Soon after discovery of +the neutron [3]_, Enrico Fermi used Pauli's light neutral particle as an +essential ingredient in his successful theory of :math:`\beta`-decay, giving +the neutrino it's name as a play on words of *little neutron* in Italian [4]_. + +It was not until some 20 years later that the discovery of the neutrino was +realised. It was eventually understood that neutrinos came in three distinct +*flavours* :math:`\left (\nu_e,\nu_\mu,\nu_\tau\right )` along with their +associated antiparticles :math:`\left +(\bar{\nu}_e,\bar{\nu}_\mu,\bar{\nu}_\tau\right)`. + +Neutrino Mixing +--------------- +For the three massive neutrinos, the flavour eigenstates of the neutrino +:math:`\mid{\nu_\alpha}>`, :math:`\alpha\in\{e,\mu,\tau\}`, are related to the +mass eigenstates :math:`\mid{\nu_i}>`, :math:`i\in\{1,2,3\}` via a unitary +mixing matrix :math:`U_{\alpha i}` known as the PMNS matrix [5]_, [6]_: + +.. math:: + + \mid{\nu_\alpha}>=\sum^3_{i=1}U^*_{\alpha i}\mid{\nu_i}> + +This relationship can be seen better in this image: + +.. figure:: _static/mixing.png + :width: 500px + :align: center + + Graphical representation of the relationship between the neutrino flavour and + mass eigenstates. The three mass eigenstates are depicted as three boxes, + coloured such that the relative area gives the probability of finding the + corresponding flavour neutrino in that given mass state. + +The time evolution of the flavour eigenstate as the neutrino propagates is +given by: + +.. math:: + + \mid{\nu_\alpha\left(t\right)}>= + \sum^3_{i=1}U^*_{\alpha i}\mid{\nu_i\left(t\right)}> + +The oscillation probability gives the probability that a neutrino produced in a +flavour state :math:`\alpha` is then detected in a flavour state :math:`\beta` +after a propagation distance :math:`L`: + +.. math:: + + \begin{align} + P_{\nu_\alpha\rightarrow\nu_\beta}\left(L\right) &= + \mid{<{\nu_\beta\left(L\right)}|{\nu_\alpha\left(0\right)}>}\mid^2\\ + &=\mid{\sum_{i=1}^3\sum_{j=1}^3<{\nu_j\left(L\right)}| + U_{\beta j}U_{\alpha i}^*|{\nu_i\left(0\right)}>}\mid^2\\ + &=\mid{\sum_{i=1}^3\sum_{j=1}^3U_{\beta j}U_{\alpha i}^* + <{\nu_j\left(0\right)}|e^{-i\frac{m_j^2L}{2E}} + e^{-i\frac{m_i^20}{2E}}|{\nu_i\left(0\right)}>}\mid^2\\ + &=\mid{\sum_{i=1}^3U_{\beta i}U_{\alpha i}^* + e^{-i\frac{m_i^2L}{2E}}}\mid^2 + \end{align} + +where the relation :math:`<{\nu_i}|{\nu_j}>=\delta_{ij}` was used. Expanding +this expression gives [7]_: + +.. math:: + + \begin{align} + P_{\nu_\alpha\rightarrow\nu_\beta}\left(L, E\right) = + \delta_{\alpha\beta}&-4\sum_{i>j}\text{Re}\left(U_{\alpha i}^*U_{\beta i} + U_{\alpha j}U_{\beta j}^*\right)\sin^2 + \left(\frac{\Delta m^2_{ij}L}{4E}\right)\\ + &+2\sum_{i>j}\text{Im}\left(U_{\alpha i}^*U_{\beta i}U_{\alpha j} + U_{\beta j}^*\right)\sin\left(\frac{\Delta m^2_{ij}L}{2E}\right) + \end{align} + +where :math:`\Delta m_{ij}^2=m_i^2-m_j^2`. Note that for neutrino oscillations +to occur, there must be at least one non-zero :math:`\Delta m_{ij}^2` and +therefore there must exist at least one non-zero neutrino mass state. + +The mixing matrix can be parameterised using the standard factorisation [8]_: + +.. math:: + + \begin{align} + U= + \begin{pmatrix} + 1 & 0 & 0 \\ + 0 & c_{23} & s_{23} \\ + 0 & -s_{23} & c_{23} \\ + \end{pmatrix} + \begin{pmatrix} + c_{13} & 0 & s_{13}e^{-i\delta} \\ + 0 & 1 & 0 \\ + -s_{13}e^{i\delta} & 0 &c_{13} \\ + \end{pmatrix} + \begin{pmatrix} + c_{12} & s_{12} & 0 \\ + -s_{12} & c_{12} & 0 \\ + 0 & 0 & 1 \\ + \end{pmatrix} + \end{align} + +where :math:`s_{ij}\equiv\sin\theta_{ij}`, :math:`c_{ij}\equiv\cos\theta_{ij}`, +:math:`\theta_{ij}` are the three mixing angles and :math:`\delta` is the CP +violating phase. Overall phases in the mixing matrix do not affect neutrino +oscillations, which only depend on quartic products, and so they have been +omitted. Therefore, this gives a total of six independent free parameters +describing neutrino oscillations for three neutrino flavours in a vacuum. This +table outlines the current knowledge of these parameters determined by a fit to +global data [9]_: + +.. figure:: _static/osc_params.png + :width: 500px + :align: center + + Three neutrino flavour oscillation parameters from a fit to global data + [9]_. + +This table shows two columns of values, *normal ordering* and *inverted +ordering* corresponding to the case where the mass of :math:`\nu_3` is greater +than the mass of :math:`\nu_1` or the mass of :math:`\nu_1` is greater than the +mass of :math:`\nu_3`, respectively. The experimental determination of this +mass ordering is ongoing. + +Astrophysical Neutrinos +----------------------- +The origin and acceleration mechanism of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is still +unknown. The difficulty comes from the fact that the cosmic rays are bent by +interstellar magnetic fields, and so their arrival direction on Earth does not +point back to their sources. The observation of these ultra-high-energy cosmic +rays supports the existence of neutrino production at the sources of a similar +energy range - an astrophysical neutrino flux. Neutrinos are electrically +neutral, so are not perturbed by interstellar magnetic fields, and they also +have a small enough interaction cross-section to escape from dense regions. +This makes them ideal messengers to help identify the sources of cosmic rays: + +.. figure:: _static/nu_messengers.png + :align: center + + Neutrinos as messengers of astrophysical objects. Exotic astrophysical + objects produce high-energy cosmic rays, photons and neutrinos, which can be + detected on Earth. Credit: IceCube, NSF. + +Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays detected on Earth manifestly succeed in +escaping their sources, therefore these sources must be optically thin +compared to the Earth's atmosphere. Thus, the following interactions of the +accelerated protons are expected to be more important than lengthy shower +processes. High-energy protons can interact with photons as such: + +.. math:: + + p+\gamma\rightarrow\Delta^+\rightarrow + \begin{cases} + p+\pi^0\\ + n+\pi^+ + \end{cases} + + +They can also interact with other hadrons: + +.. math:: + + p+p\rightarrow + \begin{cases} + p+p+\pi^0\\ + p+n+\pi^+ + \end{cases}\\ + p+n\rightarrow + \begin{cases} + p+n+\pi^0\\ + p+p+\pi^- + \end{cases} + +Importantly, final states here tend to produce pions which decay into either +photons if neutral, :math:`\pi^0\rightarrow\gamma\gamma`, or if they are charged +they decay into charged leptons and neutrinos. The neutral and charged pions are +produced in similar amounts, meaning that the neutrino and photon fluxes are +related. Indeed, the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux can be estimated +through :math:`\gamma`-ray astronomy [10]_. + +Point source searches of neutrinos are also being pursued. In 2017, a +multi-messenger approach which searched for :math:`\gamma`-ray observations in +coincidence with neutrinos coming from a particular source has successfully +been able to identify for the very first time, a source of high-energy +astrophysical neutrinos [11]_, [12]_. + +Of particular interest is the composition of flavours produced at the source. +In the simple pion decay model described above, the *neutrino flavour +composition* (sometimes referred to as the *neutrino flavour ratio*) +produced at the source is: + +.. math:: + + \pi\text{ decay}\rightarrow + \left(f_e:f_\mu:f_\tau\right)_\text{S}=\left(1:2:0\right)_\text{S} + +For all discussions on the astrophysical neutrino flavour composition, the +neutrino and antineutrino fluxes will been summed over as it is not yet +experimentally possible to distinguish between the two. In the case that the +muon interacts in the source before it has a chance to decay, e.g.\@ losing +energy rapidly in strong magnetic fields or being absorbed in matter, only the +:math:`\nu_\mu` from the initial pion decay escapes and so the source flavour +composition is simply: + +.. math:: + \mu\text{ suppressed }\rightarrow + \left(f_e:f_\mu:f_\tau\right)_\text{S}=\left(0:1:0\right)_\text{S} + +Another popular model is one in which the produced flux is dominated by neutron +decay, :math:`n\rightarrow p+e^-+\bar{\nu}_e`, which gives rise to a purely +:math:`\nu_e` component: + +.. math:: + + n\text{ decay}\rightarrow + \left(f_e:f_\mu:f_\tau\right)_\text{S}=\left(1:0:0\right)_\text{S} + +Production of :math:`\nu_\tau` at the source is not expected in standard +astrophysics models. However, even in the standard construction, the +composition could vary between any of the three idealised models above, which +can be represented as a source flavour composition of :math:`(x:1-x:0)`, where +:math:`x` is the fraction of :math:`\nu_e` and can vary between +:math:`0\rightarrow1`. + +Once the neutrinos escape the source, they are free to propagate in the vacuum. +As discussed above, neutrinos can transform from one flavour to another. +Astrophysical neutrinos have :math:`\mathcal{O}(\text{Mpc})` or higher +baselines, large enough that the mass eigenstates completely decouple. The +astrophysical neutrinos detected on Earth are decoherent and are propagating in +pure mass eigenstates. Taking this assumption greatly simplifies the transition +probability as all the interference terms between the three mass eigenstates +can be dropped, and all that is left is to convert from the propagating mass +state to the flavour states: + +.. math:: + + \phi_{i,\oplus}&=\sum_\alpha\phi_{\alpha,\text{S}}\mid{U_{\alpha i}}\mid^2\\ + \phi_{\alpha,\oplus}&=\sum_{i,\beta} + \mid{U_{\alpha i}}\mid^2\mid{U_{\beta i}}\mid^2\phi_{\beta,\text{S}} + +where :math:`\phi_\alpha` is the flux for a neutrino flavour :math:`\nu_\alpha` +and :math:`\phi_i` is the flux for a neutrino mass state :math:`\nu_i`. The +subscript :math:`\text{S}` denotes the source and :math:`\oplus` denotes as +measured on Earth. The same result can be obtained in the plane wave picture of +the neutrino mixing equations above and taking the limit +:math:`L\rightarrow\infty`, thus this type of decoherent mixing is also known +as oscillation-averaged neutrino mixing. From this, the flavour composition on +Earth is defined as +:math:`f_{\alpha,\oplus}=\phi_{\alpha,\oplus}/\sum_\alpha\phi_{\alpha,\oplus}` +and this can be calculated using the mixing matrix parameters the table above. +For the three source models discussed above: + +.. math:: + + \begin{align} + \left(1:2:0\right)_\text{S}&\rightarrow\left(0.31:0.35:0.34\right)_\oplus\\ + \left(0:1:0\right)_\text{S}&\rightarrow\left(0.18:0.44:0.38\right)_\oplus\\ + \left(1:0:0\right)_\text{S}&\rightarrow\left(0.55:0.18:0.27\right)_\oplus + \end{align} + +This can be visualised in a ternary plot, which you can make yourself by +checking out the :doc:`examples` section! The axes here are the fraction of +each neutrino flavour as shown below. The coloured circle, square and triangle +show the source flavour compositions. The arrows show the effect of neutrino +mixing on the flavour composition. The unfilled circle, square and triangle +show the corresponding measured flavour composition. Neutrino mixing during +propagation has the effect of averaging out the flavour contributions, which is +why the arrows point towards the centre of the triangle. This effect is more +pronounced for :math:`\nu_\mu\leftrightarrow\nu_\tau` due to the their larger +mixings. Also shown on this figure in the hatched *Standard Model* area, is the +region of measured flavour compositions containing all source models of +:math:`\left(x:1-x:0\right)`, using Gaussian priors on the standard mixing +angles. Therefore, this hatched area is the region in which all standard +astrophysical models live. + +.. figure:: _static/fr.png + :width: 700px + :align: center + + Astrophysical neutrino flavour composition ternary plot. Axes show the + fraction of each neutrino flavour. Coloured shapes show 3 models for the + source flavour composition. The arrows indicate the effect of neutrino mixing + during propagation and the unfilled shapes show the corresponding measured + flavour compositions. The hatched area shows the region in measured flavour + space in which all standard astrophysical models live. + +IceCube +======= + +Introduction +---------------- +The `IceCube Neutrino Obervatory <https://icecube.wisc.edu/>`_ is a cubic +kilometre photomultiplier array embedded in the extremely thick and clear +glacial ice located near the geographic South Pole in Antarctica. The IceCube +array is made up of 5160 purpose built *Digital Optical Modules* (DOMs) which +are deployed on 86 cables between 1450 and 2450 m below the ground. The +interaction of a neutrino releases a burst of light in the detector, which is +detected by this array of DOMs. The timing and intensity of these photons form +the raw data set at IceCube. This data is analysed so that we can learn more +about the properties of neutrinos. You can checkout some cool animations of how +an event looks like in IceCube on `this website +<https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=184062>`_. + +A schematic layout of IceCube is shown below. The IceCube *In-Ice* array is +made up of 5160 purpose built *Digital Optical Modules* (DOMs) which are +deployed on 86 *strings* (or cables) between 1450 and 2450 m below the ground. +The inner string separation is 125 m with a vertical DOM separation of 17 m. +Eight of the centrally located strings make up the subarray *DeepCore* which +are sensitive to lower energy neutrinos. It achieves this through denser +instrumentation, having an inner string separation of 60 m and a vertical DOM +separation of 7 m. A surface air shower array, IceTop, is instrumented on the +surface and consists of a set of frozen water tanks which act as a veto against +the background cosmic rays. + +.. figure:: _static/icecube.png + :width: 600px + :align: center + + The IceCube neutrino observatory with the In-Ice array, its subarray DeepCore + and the cosmic ray shower array IceTop. + +Event Signatures +---------------- +Cherenkov telescope arrays such as IceCube are able to classify the properties +of a neutrino event by looking at the morphology of photon hits across its PMT +array. There are two main types of neutrino event signatures at IceCube - +*tracks* and *cascades*. + +Tracks are predominantly made by muons which are directly produced by +neutrinos in the *charged current* :math:`\nu_\mu` interaction channel. Muons +have a long lifetime, :math:`\sim` 2 :math:`\mu` s at rest, and in ice they +have relatively low energy losses. Therefore, as shown in in the figure below, +a high-energy muon travelling through the IceCube array will leave a long trail +of hits. These features, along with the timing information of hits across the +DOMs, help in determining the directionality of the muon, giving an angular +resolution typically around :math:`0.5-1^\circ` [13]_. At energies of concern +here, there is little deviation between the direction of the neutrino and the +induced muon as they are both heavily boosted. Therefore, this pointing ability +of tracks makes them the most attractive events to use for point source +searches. Energy reconstruction is more complicated, however. At the lower +energies (:math:`\lesssim100` GeV), the muon's range is short enough that it is +able to deposit all its energy inside the detector. This is the ideal situation +for a good energy reconstruction as the IceCube array acts as a calorimeter, so +the total deposited charge is proportional to the energy of the muon. At higher +energies, the range of the muon is typically greater than the length of the +detector. Therefore the energy of muon must be extrapolated from the portion of +energy deposited inside the detector. This is particularly challenging for +muons which are not produced inside the detector, for which only a lower bound +can be made. The typical approach taken to reconstruct the muon is to segment +the reconstruction along the track. In this way, biases from stochastic +variations of the energy loss can be minimised by applying some averaging over +each segment. In each segment, the mean :math:`\text{d} E/\text{d} x` is +determined, which is then roughly proportional to the muon momentum. The energy +resolution improves with the muon energy up to an uncertainty of a factor of 2 +[14]_. For more details on this see the IceCube energy reconstruction methods +publication [15]_. + +.. figure:: _static/track.jpg + :width: 700px + :align: center + + A track event initiated by a CC muon neutrino interaction in the detector. + The muon deposits 74 TeV before escaping. + +Cascades are created as a result of hadronic cascades and/or EM cascades. +*Neutral current* interactions and CC :math:`\nu_e` interactions are the +channels in which a pure cascade is created, and an example of one is shown in +the figure below. However, this does not mean that neutrino events produce +exclusively one type of signature, in fact all high-energy neutrino-nucleon +events produce at least a hadronic cascade at the interaction vertex. +Characteristic of a cascade is the isotropic deposition of energy in a +localised region near the neutrino vertex. Contrary to tracks, cascade events +have much shorter typical lengths and so the entire energy deposition is easily +contained within the detector array. This is ideal for energy reconstruction +giving a deposited energy resolution of :math:`\sim` 15% at neutrino energies +above 10 TeV [15]_. Inferring the true neutrino energy is more difficult, +however, as IceCube is not capable of resolving the difference between EM +showers and hadronic showers, which potentially have a large amount of missing +energy, leading to :math:`\sim` 15% lower light yield compared to an equivalent +EM shower. Deposited energy is reconstructed using an EM shower hypothesis, and +therefore this quantity gives the lower limit of the neutrino energy. +Directional reconstruction is more challenging than for tracks and is done by +looking for timing/light intensity anisotropies around the interaction vertex. +The deviations are small, but it is expected that the light deposition in the +forward direction is greater. Typical angular resolutions are +:math:`10-15^\circ` [16]_. + +.. figure:: _static/cascade.jpg + :width: 700px + :align: center + + A cascade event initiated by a neutrino interaction in the detector. The + cascade deposits 1070 TeV in the detector. + +Not mentioned so far are the charged current :math:`\nu_\tau` interactions, +which for energies :math:`\gtrsim` 1 PeV, can produce :math:`\tau` which +travels a detectable distance before decaying. This provides a unique signature +for such events. The initial :math:`\nu_\tau` interaction produces a hadronic +cascade, followed by a track by the :math:`\tau` itself, in turn followed by +either a track from the :math:`\tau`'s muonic decay +(:math:`\tau^-\rightarrow\mu^-\bar{\nu}_\mu\nu_\tau` with branching ratio +:math:`\sim` 17%), or a cascade from its other decays. Because of their +distinctive signatures, such events are called *double bangs* or *double +cascades*. See [17]_, [18]_ for more details. + +.. [1] Pauli, W. *Letter to Tübingen conference participants* Web document. 1930. +.. [2] Chadwick, J. Intensitätsverteilung im magnetischen Spectrum der :math:`\beta`-Strahlen von radium B + C. Verhandl. Dtsc. Phys. Ges. 16, 383 (1914). +.. [3] Chadwick, J. Possible Existence of a Neutron. Nature 129, 312 (1932). +.. [4] Fermi, E. An attempt of a theory of beta radiation. 1. Z. Phys. 88, 161–177 (1934). +.. [5] Pontecorvo, B. Neutrino Experiments and the Problem of Conservation of Leptonic Charge. Sov. Phys. JETP 26. [Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz.53,1717(1967)], 984–988 (1968). +.. [6] Maki, Z., Nakagawa, M. & Sakata, S. Remarks on the unified model of elementary particles. Prog. Theor. Phys. 28. [,34(1962)], 870–880 (1962). +.. [7] Giunti, C. & Kim, C. W. Fundamentals of Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics isbn: 9780198508717 (2007). +.. [8] Beringer, J. et al. Review of Particle Physics (RPP). Phys. Rev. D86, 010001 (2012). +.. [9] Esteban, I., Gonzalez-Garcia, M. C., Maltoni, M., Martinez-Soler, I. & Schwetz, T. Updated fit to three neutrino mixing: exploring the accelerator-reactor complemen- tarity. JHEP 01, 087 (2017). +.. [10] Kappes, A., Hinton, J., Stegmann, C. & Aharonian, F. A. Potential Neutrino Signals from Galactic Gamma-Ray Sources. Astrophys. J. 656. [Erratum: Astrophys. J.661,1348(2007)], 870–896 (2007). +.. [11] Aartsen, M. G. et al. Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A. Science 361, eaat1378 (2018). +.. [12] Aartsen, M. G. et al. Neutrino emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 prior to the IceCube-170922A alert. Science 361, 147–151 (2018). +.. [13] Aartsen, M. G. et al. All-sky Search for Time-integrated Neutrino Emission from Astrophysical Sources with 7 yr of IceCube Data. Astrophys. J. 835, 151 (2017). +.. [14] Weaver, C. Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky PhD thesis (Wisconsin U., Madison, 2015). https://docushare.icecube.wisc.edu/dsweb/Get/Document-73829/. +.. [15] Aartsen, M. G. et al. Energy Reconstruction Methods in the IceCube Neutrino Telescope. JINST 9, P03009 (2014). +.. [16] Aartsen, M. G. et al. Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector. Science 342, 1242856 (2013). +.. [17] Hallen, P. On the Measurement of High-Energy Tau Neutrinos with IceCube PhD thesis (RWTH Aachen University, 2013). https://www.institut3b.physik.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaaapwhzq. +.. [18] Xu, D. L. Search for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube data PhD thesis (The University of Alabama, 2015). http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/content/u0015/0000001/0001906/u0015_0000001_0001906.pdf |
