Hans-Peter Bretz DESY Zeuthen

Detection of Prompt Muons with IceCube(pdf)

The by far most common events detected by the IceCube Neutrino Telescope are the tracks of muons created in cosmic ray induced air showers. While they are the main background for neutrino analyses, their properties also allow to study cosmic ray and air shower physics. An important component of the secondary particles in an air shower are prompt muons created mainly in the decay of charmed mesons. By determining the prompt muon flux one can estimate the spectrum of prompt neutrinos which are an important background for diffuse high energy neutrino searches. The aim of this talk is to illustrate how high energy muons can be distinguished from muon bundles with a high multiplicity. A method of determining the energy loss of muons in the detector is shown and a first comparison of Monte Carlo simulations and data is presented.