Tau neutrino fluxes from atmospheric charm

Abstract

We present an evaluation of the atmospheric tau neutrino flux in the energy range between $10^2$ and $10^6$ GeV. The main source of tau neutrinos is from charmed particle production and decay. The $\nu_\tau N\to \tau X$ event rate for a detector with a water equivalent volume of 1 km$^3$ is on the order of 60-100 events per year for $E_\tau>100$ GeV, reducing to 18 events above 1 TeV. Event rates for atmospheric muon neutrino oscillations to tau neutrinos are also evaluated.