History of high-energy neutrino astronomy

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development of high-energy neutrino astronomy, highlighting key milestones from conceptual ideas to the discovery of extraterrestrial neutrinos by IceCube, marking a significant advancement in astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive historical overview of the evolution of high-energy neutrino telescopes and the milestone discovery of extraterrestrial neutrinos by IceCube.

Findings

IceCube discovered extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos in 2013

Development of neutrino telescopes progressed from conceptual ideas to large-scale detectors

Milestones include DUMAND, NT200, AMANDA, ANTARES, and IceCube

Abstract

This talk sketches the main milestones of the path towards cubic kilometer neutrino telescopes. It starts with the first conceptual ideas in the late 1950s and describes the emergence of concepts for detectors with a realistic discovery potential in the 1970s and 1980s. After the pioneering project DUMAND close to Hawaii was terminated in 1995, the further development was carried by NT200 in Lake Baikal, AMANDA at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2013, more than half a century after the first concepts, IceCube has discovered extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos and opened a new observational window to the cosmos - marking a milestone along a journey which is far from being finished.