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P. Gondolo

Publications and source records attributed to P. Gondolo.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

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↗

Cosmic Neutrinos from Unstable Relic Particles

We derive constraints on the relic abundance of a generic particle of mass $\sim~1-10^{14}$ TeV which decays into neutrinos at cosmological epochs, using data from the Fréjus and IMB nucleon decay detectors and the Fly's Eye air shower array. The lifetime of such unstable particles which may constitute the dark matter today is bounded to be greater than $\sim~10^{14}-10^{18}$ yr, depending on the mass. For lifetimes shorter than the age of the universe, neutrino energy losses due to scattering and the expansion redshift become important and set limits to the ability of neutrino observatories to probe the early universe.

hep-ph↗

Indirect detection of unstable heavy dark matter

Unstable relics with lifetime longer than the age of the Universe could be the dark matter today. Electrons, photons and neutrinos are a natural outcome of their decay and could be searched for in cosmic rays and in $γ$-ray and neutrino detectors. I compare the sensitivities of these three types of searches to the mass and lifetime of a generic unstable particle. I show that if the relics constitute our galactic halo and their branching ratios into electron-positrons, photons and neutrinos are comparable, neutrino searches would probe the longest lifetimes for masses $\simge 40 \TeV$, while electron-positron searches would be better but more uncertain for lighter particles. If instead the relics are not clustered in our halo, neutrinos are more sensitive a probe than $γ$-rays for masses $\simge 700 \GeV$. A $ 1 \sqkm $ neutrino telescope should be able to explore lifetimes up to $ \sim 10^{30} \sec $ while searching for neutrinos from unstable particles above the atmospheric background.

hep-ph↗