Physics Blog

Contents
I. The Highest Energy Particles: Cosmic Rays, Photons and Neutrinos 4
A. The New Astronomy 4
B. The Highest Energy Cosmic Rays: Facts 6
C. The Highest Energy Cosmic Rays: Fancy 8
1. Acceleration to > 100 EeV? 8
2. Are Cosmic Rays Really Protons: the GZK Cutoff? 10
3. Could Cosmic Rays be Photons or Neutrinos? 11
D. A Three Prong Assault on the Cosmic Ray Puzzle 13
1. Giant Cosmic Ray Detectors 13
2. Gamma rays from Cosmic Accelerators 14
3. Neutrinos from Cosmic Accelerators 17
II. High-energy Neutrino Telescopes 19
A. Observing High-energy Neutrinos 19
B. Large Natural Cerenkov Detectors 22
1. Baikal, ANTARES, Nestor and NEMO: Northern Water 25
2. AMANDA: Southern Ice 28
3. IceCube: A Kilometer-Scale Neutrino Observatory 33
C. EeV Neutrino Astronomy 35
III. Cosmic Neutrino Sources 37
A. A List of Cosmic Neutrino Sources 37
B. Gamma Ray Bursts: A Detailed Example of a Generic Beam Dump 39
1. GRB Characteristics 39
2. A Brief History of Gamma Ray Bursts 40
3. GRB Progenitors? 41
4. Fireball Dynamics 42
5. Ultra High-energy Protons From GRB? 47
6. Neutrino Production in GRB: the Many Opportunities 49
7. Thermal MeV Neutrinos from GRB 50
8. Shocked Protons: PeV Neutrinos 51
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9. Stellar Core Collapse: Early TeV Neutrinos 53
10. UHE Protons From GRB: EeV Neutrinos 55
11. The Decoupling of Neutrons: GeV Neutrinos 57
12. Burst-To-Burst Fluctuations and Neutrino Event Rates 59
13. The Effect of Neutrino Oscillations 61
C. Blazars: the Sources of the Highest Energy Gamma rays 62
1. Blazar Characteristics 62
2. Blazar Models 63
3. Highly Shocked Protons: EeV Blazar Neutrinos 64
4. Moderately Shocked Protons: TeV Blazar Neutrinos 66
D. Neutrinos Associated With Cosmic Rays of Top-Down Origin 67
1. Nucleons in Top-Down Scenarios 68
2. Neutrinos in Top-Down Scenarios 69
IV. The Future for High-energy Neutrino Astronomy 71
Acknowledgments 71
References


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