High-energy neutrino astronomy: the cosmic ray connection
Abstract
This is a review of neutrino astronomy anchored to the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of $10^{20}$ and $10^{13}$ eV, respectively. Although the discovery of cosmic rays dates back close to a century, we do not know how and where they are accelerated. Basic elementary-particle physics dictates a universal upper limit on their energy of $5\times10^{19}$ eV, the so-called Greisen-Kuzmin-Zatsepin cutoff; however, particles in excess of this energy have been observed by all experiments, adding one more puzzle to the cosmic ray mystery. Mystery is fertile ground for progress: we will review the facts as well as the speculations about the sources including gamma ray bursts, blazars and top-down scenarios. The important conclusion is that, independently of the specific blueprint of the source, it takes a kilometer-scale neutrino observatory to detect the neutrino beam associated with the highest energy cosmic rays and gamma rays. We also briefly review the ongoing efforts to commission such instrumentation.
- Publication:
-
Reports on Progress in Physics
- Pub Date:
- July 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0034-4885/65/7/201
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0204527
- Bibcode:
- 2002RPPh...65.1025H
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
- E-Print:
- 83 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Reports on Progress in Physics