Comment by Zenst
7 years ago
What angle are these particles hitting the detector as it may well be possible these are particles are not traveling thru the entire planet and just a traveling in a chord (a line thru a circle that does not pass thru the centre) and as such, traveling thru far less of the planet.
Then there is the aspect that due to the size and the stated interaction with other matter that they are deflected from their original trajectory and could very well appear to be arising from directly below, giving the appearance of passing right thru the planet when they are not.
So very much possibly explained with what we already know about said particles.
Disclaimer: I work on ANITA
The two relevant events had RF emission from 27 and 35 degrees below the horizontal. If interpreted as emission from upward-going EAS, then the particle would be within a degree or so of that. So they don't go all the way through the Earth, but through a chord long enough that, if our shower energy estimate (which, admittedly, is fraught with peril, we have an order of magnitude errors on that), no standard model particle could have made it through (yes, at high energies, the Earth is opaque to neutrinos).
Do you think the scientists overlooked the geometries involved?