{
  "abstract": "Two track-like events with exceptionally large charge deposits, pointing back to the region of maximum overburden ($>18$ km.w.e.) of the Pico de Orizaba volcano, were reported by the HAWC Collaboration in a search for Earth-skimming neutrinos. Using exclusively published information, including the published Monte Carlo charge distributions and the scattered-muon background model, we show that these events are kinematically inconsistent with all identified backgrounds. A conservative energy-conservation bound places the in-tank energy deposit of the candidates above $\\approx$190--210~GeV, with a worst-case minimum of 122--136~GeV, in either case exceeding the 100~GeV maximum of the scattered-muon background model. Calibration systematics derived from the published simulations act unidirectionally, pushing the implied deposits into the multi-TeV regime. Direct atmospheric muons require $E_μ\\gtrsim 0.67$~PeV to penetrate the overburden and contribute $4.5\\times10^{-5}$ expected events ($\\lesssim 10^{-3}$ under the largest possible prompt-charm flux); collinear muon bundles are excluded by five independent arguments. Conversely, the neutrino hypothesis predicts identifiable events precisely in the observed charge window ($10^{3}$--$10^{4}$ photoelectrons) and in the highest-overburden analysis region, both observed. The two track-like events imply a rate that exceeds the conventional atmospheric neutrino flux expectation at the 2.1--2.5$σ$ level. The charges of the observed candidates require an emerging lepton above about 20~TeV; the published calibration does not bound the energy from above. These would constitute the first neutrino candidates detected in Mexico and the first obtained with the Earth-skimming volcano technique.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.28951",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Hermes León Vargas"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andrés Sandoval"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0qebx1debh6y7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.28951",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0qebx1debh6y7",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28951",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.HE"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ex"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7204940945",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.28951",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0qebx1debh6y7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
      "native_id": "2608.28951",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28951"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.HE",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ex",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Anomalous horizontal track-like events at the HAWC observatory: candidate neutrino-induced charged leptons from the Pico de Orizaba volcano",
  "title_text": "Anomalous horizontal track-like events at the HAWC observatory: candidate neutrino-induced charged leptons from the Pico de Orizaba volcano",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0qebx1debh6y7",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}