The energy spectrum of tau leptons induced by the high energy Earth-skimming neutrinos

Abstract

We present a semi-analytic calculation of the tau-lepton flux emerging from the Earth, induced by the incident high energy neutrinos interacting inside the Earth for $10^{5} \leq E_ν/{\rm GeV} \leq 10^{10}$. We obtain results for the energy dependence of the tau-lepton flux coming from the Earth-skimming neutrinos, because of the neutrino-nucleon charged-current scattering as well as the resonant $\barν_e e^-$ scattering. We illustrate our results for several anticipated high energy astrophysical neutrino sources such as the AGNs, the GRBs, and the GZK neutrino fluxes. The tau lepton fluxes resulting from rock-skimming and ocean-skimming neutrinos are compared. Such comparisons can render useful information for the spectral indices of incident neutrino fluxes.