arXiv subjects

Arman Esmaili

Publications and source records attributed to Arman Esmaili.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Nuclei in high-energy neutrino sources: A multimessenger study of in-source propagation

The joint observation of astrophysical sources in gamma rays and neutrinos can provide invaluable insight into the physical conditions of the source, including its size, particle densities, and acceleration and production mechanisms. In this work, we investigate the role of nuclear composition in high-energy astrophysical environments. Using NGC 1068 as a representative example, we perform detailed Monte Carlo simulations of nuclear and electromagnetic cascades within the source and study the imprints of the injected nuclear composition on the resulting neutrino and gamma-ray emissions. We further discuss the importance of MeV-GeV gamma-ray observations for constraining the source composition in the context of future gamma-ray experiments. A dedicated re-analysis of archival COMPTEL observations is also presented.

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arXiv2025

Sensitivity of Hyper-Kamiokande to sub-eV Sterile Neutrinos

In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) to light sterile neutrinos within the $(3+1)$ framework, consisting of three active and one sterile neutrino state. We focus on the regime where the new mass-squared splitting satisfies $Δm_{41}^{2} \lesssim 1$ eV$^{2}$, a parameter space complementary to short-baseline sterile-neutrino searches. Using both accelerator and atmospheric neutrino samples, we evaluate the expected capability of Hyper-K to constrain active-sterile mixing. Our results show that Hyper-K can significantly improve current bounds on sterile-neutrino parameters and achieve sensitivity that is competitive with that of future dedicated experiments.

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arXiv2025

Searching for sub-eV Sterile Neutrinos in Neutrino Telescopes

With the forthcoming deployment of IceCube-Upgrade, unprecedented statistics of atmospheric neutrinos in the energy range (1-100) GeV will become available, providing a valuable opportunity to probe physics beyond the Standard Model in the neutrino sector. In this study, we calculate the sensitivity of the IceCube-Upgrade to sterile neutrinos with mass-squared splittings $\lesssim 1~{\rm eV}^2$. We demonstrate that, particularly due to the (1-10) GeV energy window, $ν_μ-ν_s$ mixing angles as small as $\sim5^\circ$ can be probed by IceCube-Upgrade for all mass-squared splittings below $1~{\rm eV}^2$. Furthermore, we investigate the potential impact of a sterile neutrino state on the precision determination of standard atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters in the IceCube-Upgrade.

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arXiv2024

Pair production with capture by energetic cosmic ray nuclei in a photon background

We investigate the ionization state of very energetic cosmic ray nuclei in photon fields, such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in extragalactic propagation and the environment surrounding the acceleration site in astrophysical sources. We focus on the process of pair production with electron capture (PPC), where the interaction of a single photon with a nucleus produces an $e^\pm$ pair (similar to Bethe-Heitler process) with the subsequent capture of electron by the nucleus. This process effectively reduces the nucleus charge by one unit and counteracts the photo-ionization process. We show that during cosmological propagation, where the ultra-high energy cosmic rays interact predominantly with the CMB, ionization dominates over PPC for all the cases of practical interest. However, within the source environment and at sufficiently high energies, ionization and PPC processes can reach an equilibrium, leading to a significant fraction of dressed heavy nuclei. This provides a further limitation to the acceleration of high-$Z$ nuclei to very high energies in environments with hot and dense photon fields.

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arXiv2024

Limits on the parameter space of (3+2) sterile neutrino scenario by IceCube data

The neutrino sector of the standard model of particles can contain more than one sterile neutrino states. Generally, existence of more sterile states leads to better, or at least equally good, fit to the short baseline anomalous data due to the larger number of parameters and interferences which create features in the oscillation pattern. However, for experiments like IceCube, where the sterile states distort the oscillation pattern of high energy atmospheric neutrinos through parametric and MSW resonances, addition of more sterile states leads to a more intense effect. Although the limits on one additional sterile neutrino state by IceCube data have been studied in the literature, bounds on the models with more sterile states are lacking. We analyze the one-year data set of atmospheric neutrinos collected by IceCube during the 2011-2012 and derive the limits on the parameter space of (3+2) scenario with two sterile neutrino states, taking into account the relevant systematic and statistical uncertainties and atmospheric neutrino flux variants. To facilitate the joint analysis of IceCube and short baseline data, we provide the table of $χ^2$ values from IceCube's data analysis as function of the parameters.

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arXiv2024

A closer scrutiny of cosmic ray proton energy losses

The percent-level precision attained by modern cosmic ray (CR) observations motivates reaching a comparable or better control of theoretical uncertainties. Here we focus on energy-loss processes affecting low-energy CR protons ($\sim 0.1-5$ GeV), where the experimental errors are small and collisional effects play a comparatively larger role with respect to collisionless transport ones. We study three aspects of the problem: i) We quantitatively assess the role of the nuclear elastic cross-section, for the first time, providing analytical formulae for the stopping power and inelasticity. ii) We discuss the error arising from treating both elastic and pion production inelastic interactions as continuous energy loss processes, as opposed to catastrophic ones. The former is the approximation used in virtually all modern numerical calculations. iii) We consider sub-leading effects such as relativistic corrections, radiative and medium processes in ionization energy-losses. Our analysis reveals that neglecting i) leads to errors close to 1%, notably around and below 1 GeV; neglecting ii) leads to errors reaching about 3% within the considered energy range; iii) contributes to a minor effect, gauged at the level of 0.1%. Consequently, while iii) can currently be neglected, ii) warrants consideration, and we also recommend incorporating i) into computations. We conclude with some perspectives on further steps to be taken towards a high-precision goal of theoretical CR predictions regarding the treatment of energy-losses.

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arXiv2024

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

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.

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arXiv2023

Ultra-high energy neutrinos from high-redshift electromagnetic cascades

We study the impact of the muon pair production and double pair production processes induced by ultra-high energy photons on the cosmic microwave background. Although the muon pair production cross section is smaller than the electron pair production one, the associated energy loss length is comparable or shorter than the latter (followed by inverse Compton in the deep Klein-Nishina regime) at high-redshift, where the effect of the astrophysical radio background is expected to be negligible. By performing a simulation taking into account the details of $e/γ$ interactions at high energies, we show that a significant fraction of the electromagnetic energy injected at $E\gtrsim 10^{19}\,$eV at redshift $z\gtrsim 5$ is channeled into neutrinos. The double pair production plays a crucial role in enhancing the multiplicity of muon production in these electromagnetic cascades. The ultra-high energy neutrino spectrum, yet to be detected, can in principle harbour information on ultra-high energy sources in the young universe, either conventional or exotic ones, with weaker constraints from the diffuse gamma ray flux compared to their low redshift counterparts.

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arXiv2022

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) Science Book (2021 Edition)

Since the science white paper of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) published on arXiv in 2019 [e-Print: 1905.02773 (astro-ph.HE)], LHAASO has completed the transition from a project to an operational gamma-ray astronomical observatory LHAASO is a new generation multi-component facility located in Daocheng, Sichuan province of China, at an altitude of 4410 meters. It aims at measuring with unprecedented sensitivity the spectrum, composition, and anisotropy of cosmic rays in the energy range between 10$^{12}$ and 10$^{18}$~eV, and acting simultaneously as a wide aperture (one stereoradiant) continuously operating gamma-ray telescope in the energy range between 10$^{11}$ and $10^{15}$~eV with the designed sensitivity of 1.3\% of the Crab Unit (CU) above 100 TeV. LHAASO's capability of measuring simultaneously different shower components (electrons, muons, and Cherenkov/fluorescence light), will allow it to investigate the origin, acceleration, and propagation of CR through measurement of the energy spectrum, elemental composition, and anisotropy with unprecedented resolution. The remarkable sensitivity of LHAASO will play a key role in CR physics and gamma-ray astronomy for a general and comprehensive exploration of the high energy universe and will allow important studies of fundamental physics (such as indirect dark matter search, Lorentz invariance violation, quantum gravity) and solar and heliospheric physics. The LHAASO Collaboration organized an editorial working group and finished all editorial work of this science book, to summarize the instrumental features and outline the prospects of scientific researches with the LHAASO experiment.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Evaporating Primordial Black Holes in Gamma Ray and Neutrino Telescopes

A primordial black hole in the last stages of evaporation and located in the local neighborhood can produce a detectable signal in gamma ray and neutrino telescopes. We re-evaluate the expected gamma ray and neutrino fluxes from these transient point events and discuss the consequences for existing constraints. For gamma rays we improve the current bounds by a factor of few, while for neutrinos we obtain significantly different results than the existing literature. The capability and advantages of neutrino telescopes in the search for primordial black holes is discussed thoroughly. The correlations of gamma ray and neutrino energy and time profiles will be promoted as a powerful tool in identifying the primordial black holes, in case of detection.

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arXiv2021

Violation of Equivalence Principle in Neutrino Sector: Probing the Extended Parameter Space

The oscillation of neutrino flavors, due to its interferometry nature, is extremely sensitive to the phase differences developing during the propagation of neutrinos. In this paper we investigate the effect of the Violation of Equivalence Principle (VEP) on the flavor oscillation probabilities of atmospheric and cosmic neutrinos observed at neutrino telescopes such as IceCube. Assuming a general parameterization of VEP, dubbed extended parameter space, we show that the synergy between the collected data of high energy atmospheric and cosmic neutrinos severely constrains the VEP parameters. Also, the projected sensitivity of IceCube-Gen2 to VEP parameters is discussed.

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arXiv2021

First implications of Tibet AS$_γ$ data for heavy dark matter

Extensive air shower detectors of gamma rays in the sub-PeV energy region provide a new and relatively unexplored window for dark matter searches. Here we derive some implications of the recently published Tibet AS$_γ$ data for decaying dark matter candidates. The available spectral information is already useful in obtaining competitive constraints, surpassing existing limits above 10 PeV mass for hadronic or massive boson final states. This is particularly true if accounting for a benchmark astrophysical background of Galactic cosmic rays in the (0.1-1) PeV range. By relying on the arrival distribution of the photons, we show that significantly better sensitivity can be attained, comparable or better than IceCube also for most leptonic final states. Full data exploitation requires however further information disclosure.

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arXiv2021

Update on decaying and annihilating heavy dark matter with the 6-year IceCube HESE data

In view of the IceCube's 6-year high-energy starting events (HESE) sample, we revisit the possibility that the updated data may be better explained by a combination of neutrino fluxes from dark matter decay and an isotropic astrophysical power-law than purely by the latter. We find that the combined two-component flux qualitatively improves the fit to the observed data over a purely astrophysical one, and discuss how these updated fits compare against a similar analysis done with the 4-year HESE data. We also update fits involving dark matter decay via multiple channels, without any contribution from the astrophysical flux. We find that a DM-only explanation is not excluded by neutrino data alone. Finally, we also consider the possibility of a signal from dark matter annihilations and perform analogous analyses to the case of decays, commenting on its implications.

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arXiv2021

Where do IceCube neutrinos come from? Hints from the diffuse gamma-ray flux

Despite the spectacular discovery of an astrophysical neutrino flux by IceCube in 2013, its origin remains a mystery. Whatever its sources, we expect the neutrino flux to be accompanied by a comparable gamma-ray flux. These photons should be degraded in energy by electromagnetic cascades and contribute to the diffuse GeV-TeV flux precisely measured by the Fermi-LAT. Population studies have also permitted to identify the main classes of contributors to this flux, which at the same time have not been associated with major neutrino sources in cross-correlation studies. These considerations allow one to set constraints on the origin and spectrum of the IceCube flux, in particular its low-energy part. We find that, even accounting for known systematic errors, the Fermi-LAT data exclude to at least 95% C.L. any extragalactic transparent source class, irrespective of its redshift evolution, if the neutrino spectrum extends to the TeV scale or below. If the neutrino spectrum has an abrupt cutoff at $\sim10$ TeV, barely compatible with current observations, the tension can be reduced, but this way out requires a significant modification to the current understanding of the origin of the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray flux at GeV energies. In contrast, these considerations do not apply if a sizable fraction of IceCube data originates within the Galactic halo (a scenario however typically in tension with other constraints) or from a yet unidentified class of "opaque" extragalactic emitters, which do not let the high-energy gamma rays get out.

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arXiv2020

New constraints on the origin of medium-energy neutrinos observed by IceCube

The recent IceCube publication claims the observation of cosmic neutrinos with energies down to $\sim 10$ TeV, reinforcing the growing evidence that the neutrino flux in the 10-100 TeV range is unexpectedly large. Any conceivable source of these neutrinos must also produce a $γ$-ray flux which degrades in energy en route to the Earth and contributes to the extragalactic $γ$-ray background measured by the Fermi satellite. In a quantitative multimessenger analysis, featuring minimalistic assumptions, we find a $\geq 3σ$ tension in the data, reaching $\sim 5σ$ for cosmic neutrinos extended down to $\sim 1$ TeV, interpreted as evidence for a population of hidden cosmic-ray accelerators.

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arXiv2019

Heavy sterile neutrino emission in core-collapse supernovae: Constraints and signatures

Heavy sterile neutrinos with masses ${\mathcal O}(100)$ MeV mixing with active neutrinos can be produced in the core of a collapsing supernova (SN). In order to avoid an excessive energy loss, shortening the observed duration of the SN 1987A neutrino burst, we show that the active-sterile neutrino mixing angle should satisfy $\sin^2 θ\lesssim 5 \times 10^{-7}$. For a mixing with tau flavour, this bound is much stronger than the ones from laboratory searches. Moreover, we show that in the viable parameter space the decay of such "heavy" sterile neutrinos in the SN envelope would lead to a very energetic flux of daughter active neutrinos; if not too far below current limits, this would be detectable in large underground neutrino observatories, like Super-Kamiokande, as a (slightly time-delayed) high-energy bump in the spectrum of a forthcoming Galactic SN event.

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arXiv2019

Explaining the ANITA events by a $L_e-L_τ$ gauge model

The ANITA experiment has registered two anomalous events that can be interpreted as $ν_τ$ or $\barν_τ$ with a very high energy of $\mathcal{O}(0.6)$~EeV emerging from deep inside the Earth. At such high energies, the Earth is opaque to neutrinos so the emergence of these neutrinos at such large zenith angles is a mystery. In our paper, we present a model that explains the two anomalous events through a $L_e -L_τ$ gauge interaction involving two new Weyl fermions charged under the new gauge symmetry. We find that, as a bonus of the model, the lighter Weyl fermion can be a dark matter component. We discuss how the ANITA observation can be reconciled with the IceCube and Auger upper bounds. We also demonstrate how this model can be tested in future by collider experiments.

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arXiv2018

Constraining high-energy neutrinos from choked-jet supernovae with IceCube high-energy starting events

Different types of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) have been considered as candidate sources of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. Stripped-envelope SNe, including energetic events like hypernovae and super-luminous SNe, are of particular interest. They may harbor relativistic jets, which are capable of explaining the diversity among gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), low-luminosity GRBs, ultra-long GRBs, and broadline Type Ib/c SNe. Using the six-year IceCube data on high-energy starting events (HESEs), we perform an unbinned maximum likelihood analysis to search for spatial and temporal coincidences with 222 samples of SNe Ib/c. We find that the present data are consistent with the background only hypothesis, by which we place new upper constraints on the isotropic-equivalent energy of cosmic rays, ${\mathcal E}_{\rm cr}\lesssim{10}^{52}~{\rm erg}$, in the limit that all SNe are accompanied by on-axis jets. Our results demonstrate that not only upgoing muon neutrinos but also HESE data enable us to constrain the potential contribution of these SNe to the diffuse neutrino flux observed in IceCube. We also discuss implications for the next-generation neutrino detectors such as IceCube-Gen2.

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