On the Prospects of Tau Neutrino Astronomy in Gev Energies and Beyond

Abstract

We point out the opportunity of tau neutrino astronomy for neutrino energies of the order of 10 GeV to 10$^{3}$ GeV. In this energy range, it is demonstrated that the flavor dependence in the background atmospheric neutrino flux leads to drastically different prospects between the observation of astrophysical muon neutrinos and that of astrophysical tau neutrinos. Taking the galactic-plane neutrino flux as a targeted astrophysical source, we found that the galactic-plane tau neutrino flux dominates over the atmospheric tau neutrino flux for neutrino energies beyond 10 GeV. Hence the galactic-plane can in principle be seen through tau neutrinos with energies greater than 10 GeV. In a sharp contrast, the galactic-plane muon neutrino flux is overwhelmed by its atmospheric background until the energy of $10^{6}$ GeV.