The geometry of atmospheric neutrino production

Abstract

The zenith angle distributions of atmospheric neutrinos are determined by the possible presence of neutrino oscillations and the combination of three most important contributions: (1) geomagnetic effects on the primary cosmic rays, that suppress the primary flux in the Earth's magnetic equatorial region, (2) the zenith angle dependence of the neutrino yields, due to the fact that inclined showers produce more neutrinos, and (3) geometrical effects due to the spherical shell geometry of the neutrino production volume. The last effect has been recognized only recently and results in an important enhancement of the flux of sub--GeV neutrinos for horizontal directions. In this work we discuss the geometrical effect and its relevance in the interpretation of the atmospheric neutrino data.