Particle Physics with High Energy Neutrinos

Abstract

The topic of this review is the particle astrophysics of high energy neutrinos. High energy is defined as $E_ν > 100$~MeV. Main topics include: – atmospheric neutrinos and muons from $π$, $K$ and charm decay. They probe uncharted territory in neutrino oscillations and constitute both the background and calibration of high energy neutrino telescopes, – sources of high energy neutrino beams: the galactic plane, the sun, X-ray binaries, supernova remnants and interactions of extra-galactic cosmic rays with background photons, – an extensive review of the mechanisms by which active galaxies may produce high energy particle beams, – high energy neutrino signatures of cold dark matter and, – a brief review of detection techniques (water and ice Cherenkov detectors, surface detectors, radio- and acoustic detectors, horizontal airshower arrays) and the instruments under construction.