Invisible Neutrino Decay Resolves IceCube's Track and Cascade Tension

Understand

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects high energy astrophysical neutrinos in two event topologies: tracks and cascades.

• Since the flavor composition of each event topology differs, tracks and cascades can be used to test the neutrino properties and the mechanisms behind the neutrino production in astrophysical sources.
• Assuming a conventional model for the neutrino production, the IceCube data sets related to the two channels are in $>3\sigma$ tension with each other.
• Invisible neutrino decay with lifetime $\tau/m=10^2$ s/eV solves this tension.