arXiv subjects

M. Thunman

Publications and source records attributed to M. Thunman.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv1996

Particle Production in the Interstellar Medium

The flux of neutrinos and photons originating from cosmic ray interactions with the interstellar medium in the galaxy is calculated based on current models for high energy particle interactions. The contribution from a possible dark matter halo of the galaxy is considered. The photon flux gets a non-trivial attenuation due to interactions with the cosmic background radiation. The neutrino fluxes are compared with those originating from the Earth's atmosphere as well as from active galactic nuclei.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Signals for Intrinsic Charm in High Energy Interactions

The prospects to test the hypothesis of intrinsic charm quarks in the proton are investigated. We consider how this component can be directly or indirectly probed in deep inelastic scattering at HERA and in fixed target experiments and find that an overlooked signal might be present in existing NMC data. Applying the intrinsic charm model to hadron collisions we compare the resulting charm production cross-sections with those based on standard perturbative QCD and available data. Extrapolating to higher energies we obtain predictions for charm production at the Tevatron and LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Searching for Heavy Quarks at NMC: A Simple Estimate of Background Muons from $π$ and $K$ decays

New physics can be searched for in deep inelastic scattering experiments. New phenomena, like additional production mechanisms for heavy quarks, manifest themselves through production and decays of short-lived hadrons, which give additional muons in their decays. Muons from decays of light mesons can then be a severe background, especially at fixed target experiments. In order to make a first estimate of such a background a simple analytic method is here developed and applied on the muon scattering experiment NMC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

High Energy Neutrino Production by Cosmic Ray Interactions in the Sun

The flux of neutrinos originating from cosmic ray interactions with matter in the Sun has been calculated based on Monte Carlo models for high energy particle interactions. The resulting flux at the Earth (within the Sun's solid angle) is higher than the corresponding one from cosmic ray interactions with the Earth atmosphere. The smallness of the absolute rate, however, precludes it as a practical `standard candle' for neutrino telescopes and limits neutrino oscillation searches. On the other hand, it facilitates dark matter searches based on neutrinos from neutralino annihilation in the Sun.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Atmospheric muons and neutrinos from charm

We have updated our previous investigation of the production of muons and neutrinos in cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere, taking account of recent results from the $ep$ collider HERA in our QCD-based model for hadronic interactions. Qualitatively, our previous results remain unmodified: our predictions for the conventional muon and neutrino fluxes agree with earlier calculations, whereas the charm particle treatment we use gives significantly lower prompt fluxes compared to earlier estimates. This implies better prospects for detecting very high energy neutrinos from cosmic sources.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Charm Production and High Energy Atmospheric Muon and Neutrino Fluxes

Production of muons and neutrinos in cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere has been investigated with Monte Carlo models for hadronic interactions. The resulting conventional muon and neutrino fluxes (from $π$ and $K$ decays) agree well with earlier calculations, whereas our prompt fluxes from charm decays are significantly lower than earlier estimates. Charm production is mainly considered as a well defined perturbative QCD process, but we also investigate a hypothetical non-perturbative intrinsic charm component in the proton. The lower charm rate implies better prospects for detecting very high energy neutrinos from cosmic sources.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1995

A Monte Carlo Calculation of Atmospheric Muon and Neutrino Fluxes

Production of muons and neutrinos in cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere has been investigated with a cascade simulation program based on Lund Monte Carlo programs. The resulting `conventional' muon and neutrino fluxes (from $π,K$ decays) agree well with earlier calculations, whereas the improved charm particle treatment used in this study gives significantly lower `prompt' fluxes compared to earlier estimates. This implies better prospects for detecting very high energy neutrinos from cosmic sources.

hep-ph↗