High Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos (SpringerBriefs in Astronomy)

This book provides a pedagogical introduction to the likely sources of these neutrinos, their propagation and detection mechanisms. Detection of high energy neutrinos of extragalactic origin has led to an interdisciplinary field of research, involving astronomy, astrophysics and particle physics. An extensive review of various detectors and the observations is provided that consolidates the latest findings. Above a few tens of TeVs, neutrinos are conceived as more reliable messengers for astronomy than photons as these photons get absorbed in the background photon field. Determining the neutrino spectrum not only helps in exploring astrophysical objects like AGN, GRB, etc. but also allows us to study particle physics at unprecedented energies. This introductory book is intended to help advanced undergraduate and graduate students to get into the subject with ease, and it simultaneously caters to practicing theoretical or experimental physicists as a reference book. Preface 6 Contents 7 Acronyms 9 1 Introduction 10 1.1 Cosmic Rays 11 1.2 How Cosmic Rays Get Accelerated? 12 1.2.1 Hillas Criterion 13 1.2.2 The Connection Between Cosmic Rays, Gamma Rays and Astrophysical Neutrino Spectra 13 1.3 GZK Cutoff and Cosmogenic Neutrinos 20 1.4 Photon Background 24 1.5 Photon Propagation 26 1.6 Neutrino Propagation 28 1.6.1 Neutrino Oscillations in Vacuum 28 1.6.2 Neutrino Oscillations in Matter 31 1.6.3 Neutrino Flavour Ratios at Earth 32 1.6.4 UHE Neutrino Propagation Through the Earth 33 1.6.5 ντ Propagation 35 1.7 Neutrino Cross-Sections 37 1.8 Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model 43 1.8.1 Modifications in Neutrino-Nucleon Cross-Sections 43 1.8.2 Changes in Neutrino Flavour Ratios 44 1.8.3 Testing Violations of Fundamental Symmetry 45 References 45 2 Sources of VHE (TeV-PeV) Neutrinos 48 2.1 Galactic Sources 48 2.2 SNR and PWN 49 2.3 Extra-Galactic Sources 49 2.4 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) 50 2.5 Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) 51 2.5.1 Neutrino Production in GRBs 52 2.6 Star Bursts Galaxies (SBGs) 52 2.6.1 Tidal Disruptive Events (TDEs) 53 2.6.2 Glashow Resonance 53 References 54 3 Detection of High Energy Neutrinos on the Earth 55 3.1 Ice and Water as Natural Mediums to Detect VHE Neutrinos 55 3.1.1 Neutrino Interactions in Ice and Water 56 3.1.2 Background Events: Atmospheric Muons and Atmospheric Neutrinos 58 3.1.3 IceCube 59 3.1.4 IceCube Highlights 63 3.1.5 ANTARES 65 3.1.6 Upcoming Neutrino Detectors 66 3.2 Detection of Ultra High Energy Neutrinos 68 3.2.1 Radio Emission by EM Component of the Cascade 68 3.2.2 ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) 70 3.2.3 Surface Radio Arrays 72 3.3 UHE Neutrino Detection via Moon 73 3.4 Detection of UHE Neutrinos by AUGER Air Shower Array 73 3.5 Acoustic Detection 74 References 74