Helium Production of Prompt Neutrinos on the Moon
The subject of conducting fundamental physics and astronomy experiments on the lunar surface continues to be of interest in the planetary science community. Such an inquiry necessarily requires an analysis of the backscatter albedos produced by Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) when they directly impact the lunar regolith. Unlike the Earth, this happens because the Moon has only a tenuous exosphere. Such secondary radiation constitutes a background that obscures and interferes with measurements conducted in the normal sense of laboratory physics on Earth. Our previous investigations using recent enhancements in the Monte Carlo program known as FLUKA included the production of charged particles, neutrons, photons, and neutrinos by the impact of Galactic protons. That investigation is extended here to include the effect of ionized helium, He-4, or a particles. Because high-energy GCRs excite planetary regoliths into giving rise to charmed mesons, neutrinos are produced. Thus a connection is established for the GCR helium production of prompt neutrinos on the Moon using the physics of charm.