We describe the main mechanisms of production of prompt neutrinos in the atmosphere, where they are a background for the detection of astronomical neutrinos from far sources, and at the Large Hadron Collider. These involve the production and decay of heavy-flavoured hadrons in hadronic collisions. We show the differences in the kinematics relevant for the two cases, also depending on the detail of the experiments capable of detecting these neutrinos. We stress the importance of reducing the present large uncertainties, coming from different sources, ranging from the still too low accuracy of calculation of the partonic cross-sections for charm production, to the quite uncertain charm pole mass value and parton distribution functions of protons and nuclei, to the still quite debated ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray mass composition (with the last just relevant for atmospheric neutrinos).
INFN & DFA - Dott. Luca Vecchi
