High-energy neutrino astronomy and the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope

TL;DR

This paper reviews the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope, a major effort in high-energy neutrino astronomy, highlighting its construction, scientific goals, and initial results in detecting astrophysical neutrinos.

Contribution

It presents the design, construction progress, and early findings of the Baikal-GVD detector, a new cubic-kilometer neutrino observatory in Lake Baikal.

Findings

Over 2000 optical modules installed

Effective volume of 0.35 km$^3$ achieved

Initial detection results reported

Abstract

Neutrino astronomy offers a novel view of the non-thermal Universe and is complementary to other astronomical disciplines. The field has seen rapid progress in recent years, including the first detection of astrophysical neutrinos in the TeV-PeV energy range by IceCube and the first identified extragalactic neutrino source (TXS 0506+056). Further discoveries are aimed for with new cubic-kilometer telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere: Baikal-GVD, in Lake Baikal, and KM3NeT-ARCA, in the Mediterranean sea. The construction of Baikal-GVD proceeds as planned; the detector currently includes over 2000 optical modules arranged on 56 strings, providing an effective volume of 0.35 km$^3$. We review the scientific case for Baikal-GVD, the construction plan, and first results from the partially built array.