nuHEDGE · Neutrinos at High Energies: Disentangling Galactic and Extra-galactic components
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-06-01 → 2021-05-31
- EU contribution
- €184,708
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Neutrinos at High Energies: Disentangling Galactic and Extra-galactic components
Cosmic-rays have been discovered in 1912 by Victor Hess. The observed energy spectrum of cosmic-rays is described by a power law with spectral index of about 2.7 up to energies of a few PeV, where the spectrum gets steeper and a feature called the "knee" originates. The knee is believed to mark the maximum energy for cosmic-rays accelerated by Galactic source. Neutrinos are particles that rarely interact with matter and do not feel the magnetic field. For this reason, they can carry information on the physics of acceleration of particles and on the most energetic and distant phenomena in the Universe. Neutrinos can permit to discriminate unambiguously between leptonic and hadronic scenarios. Thus, they are "smoking gun" signature of cosmic-rays accelerators. A multi-messenger search is mandatory for the identification of the origin of cosmic neutrinos. Gamma-ray data are necessary to make correct estimations of neutrino fluxes from point-sources. The characteristic gamma-ray feature of a PeVatron include an hadronic, hard spectrum that extends until at least several tens of TeV. Thus, a gamma-ray experiment with sensitivity to make detections up to about 100 TeV is of fundamental importance.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
In 2013 the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory has received the Physics World award for the Breakthrough of theYear for the first observations of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. The discovery, indeed, represents the birth of a newresearch field, the neutrino astronomy, that can definitively shed light on the sources of high-energy cosmic-rays and on themechanisms through which they are produced. The origin of all of the detected neutrinos is still to be correctly identified. Just recently evidence for emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 has been reported. The mostimportant point to understand is if the neutrino events are all of extra-galactic origin or a galactic component is present, andwhich are the specific characteristics, like size of the acceleration region and magnetic field, of the possible sources. Toachieve this goal a multi-messenger approach is necessary. In particular, it is important to compare the single point sourcesavailable in the current gamma-ray catalogues with the IceCube data, considering their spatial, timing and energydistribution. After identifying specific plausible candidates for the IceCube events, it is possible to consider the sensitivity ofgamma-ray experiments, like the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory and the planned Cherenkov Telescope ArrayProject, to verify the origin of the IceCube events. For the final correct identification of the IceCube neutrinos, the detection ofthe events from different experiments will be fundamental. In this regard, the estimation of the prospects for ANTARES, forthe possible extension of IceCube and for the planned cubic kilometre neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere,KM3NeT, is mandatory.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/843418
- https://sites.google.com/site/viviananiro/curriculum-vitae/marie_curie
Data: CORDIS, © European Union