High-energy neutrino telescopes

• Main Author: Riccobene, G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Societa italiana di fisica 2010
• Subjects: 530 Fisica; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/17104/; http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/17104/1/ncc9785.pdf; https://www.sif.it/riviste/sif/ncc/econtents/2010/033/06/article/48

Recent results from high-energy cosmic ray and gamma detectors indicate the occurrence of hadron acceleration in cosmic sources and possible production of very-high-energy gamma-rays and neutrinos through h-γ or h-h interactions. Underwater and under-ice neutrino telescopes are discovery apparatuses aiming at the detection of high-energy (> TeV) astrophysical neutrinos. The operation of the Baikal, AMANDA, ANTARES and NEMO demonstrators, validated the ˇCerenkov technique as preferred solution for the construction of larger HE neutrino telescopes: IceCube, operational at the South Pole, and KM3NeT, that will be built in the Mediterranean Sea. Several R&D activities are also conducted to develop complementary experimental techniques, based on the detection of coherent acoustic (tens of kHz) or e.m. (GHz) radiation, induced by ultra-high-energy neutrino interaction in deep sea or ice.