SPA Colloquium: Steven Prohira (Kansas U.)

Title: New (old) approaches to ultrahigh energy neutrino detection

Abstract: Ultrahigh energy neutrinos, with energies in excess of roughly 10 PeV likely hold clues to a) the identity of the sources of the most energetic particles in the universe and b) physics beyond the standard model. Neutrinos, with their extremely small (but, fascinatingly, non-zero) mass have been detected at earth with energies up to roughly 10-100 PeV by optical detectors such as IceCube and KM3NeT, but above this energy their extremely low flux makes detecting significant numbers a challenge. Several experiments, current and future, have developed strategies to remotely instrument large target volumes to increase the chances of detection. In this talk I'll discuss strategies that employ old technology and old ideas in a new way, toward the goal of developing instruments that detect these elusive and interesting particles.