Neutrino telescopes and high-energy cosmic neutrinos

TL;DR

This review summarizes the principles, current observations, and potential sources of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, highlighting the role of neutrino telescopes like IceCube in advancing astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of high-energy cosmic neutrino astrophysics, including recent observational results and interpretations, which is a synthesis not previously consolidated.

Findings

IceCube has detected astrophysical neutrinos.

Various candidate sources for cosmic neutrinos are discussed.

The field is expected to evolve rapidly in the coming years.

Abstract

In this review paper, we present the main aspects of high-energy cosmic neutrino astrophysics. We begin by describing the generic expectations for cosmic neutrinos, including the effects of propagation from their sources to the detectors. Then we introduce the operating principles of current neutrino telescopes, and examine the main features (topologies) of the observable events. After a discussion of the main background processes, due to the concomitant presence of secondary particles produced in the terrestrial atmosphere by cosmic rays, we summarize the current status of the observations with astrophysical relevance that have been greatly contributed by IceCube detector. Then, we examine various interpretations of these findings, trying to assess the best candidate sources of cosmic neutrinos. We conclude with a brief perspective on how the field could evolve within a few years.