High energy neutrino astronomy: Towards kilometer-scale detectors

Abstract

After three decades of anticipation two high energy neutrino telescopes are taking data: one deployed in the clear deep waters of Lake Baikal, the other in the transparent Antarctic ice sheet under the geographic South Pole. Neutrinos from the Lake Baikal detector bode well for the flurry of R&D activities leading to the deployment of similar instruments in the Mediterranean. The AMANDA telescope announced first light, neutrinos actually. It is a telescope in the 104 m2 class envisaged by the DUMAND collaboration, and is producing results that validate plans for commissioning a kilometer-scale detector in Antarctic ice. Although high energy neutrino astronomy is a multidisciplinary science, gamma ray bursts and supermas-sive black holes have become its theoretical focus since recent astronomical observations revealed their potential as cosmic particle accelerators. These astronomical highlights are shared with particle physics, especially the potential of high energy telescopes to observe oscillating neutrinos. The recent Superkamiokande results have boosted atmospheric neutrinos from a calibration tool and a background for doing astronomy, to an opportunity to confirm the evidence for neutrino mass.