Towards high-energy neutrino astronomy

Abstract

The search for the sources of cosmic rays is a three-fold assault, using charged cosmic rays, gamma rays and neutrinos. The first conceptual ideas to detect high energy neutrinos date back to the late fifties. The long evolution towards detectors with a realistic discovery potential started in the seventies and eighties, with the pioneering works in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii and in Lake Baikal in Siberia. But only now, half a century after the first concepts, such a detector is in operation: IceCube at the South Pole. We do not yet know whether with IceCube we will indeed detect extraterrestrial high energy neutrinos or whether this will remain the privilege of next generation telescopes. But whatever the answer will be: the path to the present detectors was a remarkable journey. This review sketches its main milestones. a

Cosmic neutrino pevatrons: A brand new pathway to astronomy, astrophysics, and particle physics

“…The long road to developing the IceCube experiment has been thoroughly described in [40,41]. Here we recount some of the highlights.…”

High-energy neutrino astronomy: a glimpse of the promised land

“…This was the start of the NESTOR project [28]. NESTOR was conceived to consist of seven towers, each comprising 12 hexagonal floors, spread over a volume of 0.1 km 3 . In 2004, a single prototype floor was deployed and operated for about one month [29].…”

Solar neutrinos at keV energies: thermal flux1

“…The Sun is commonly recognized as a neutrino factory, being the most important source of neutrinos in the MeV range because of the nuclear reactions happening in its core [2]. However, it also produces neutrinos through the so-called thermal processes.…”