Effect of possible stronger neutrino interaction at $E_{ν_μ}\sim 10^{11}$ GeV upon the extraction of $\sin^2 θ_W$ from the neutral-current cross section at NuTeV

Abstract

The possibility exists that cosmic-ray neutrinos with energies of $\sim 10^{20}$ eV interact in the atmosphere with a cross section at the millibarn level, giving rise to some of the highest-energy air showers. In a specific dynamical model which can give rise to such a cross section, we show that there can be a small effect upon the extraction of the effective value of $\sin^2 θ_W$ from $ν_μ$-hadron, neutral-current cross section data at NuTeV.