by Prof. Subir Sarkar, University of Oxford, UK

Abstract:

In the past decade a new window has opened on to the Universe with the advent of high energy neutrino astronomy. The IceCube experiment at the South Pole discovered a diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos at TeV-PeV energies, and identified the first candidate source -- a flaring blazar ~6 billion light-years away. This was a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy and poses challenges to astrophysical models of such active galactic nuclei. Intriguingly no neutrinos have been seen from gamma-ray bursts, nor were any seen from the binary neutron star merger detected in gravitational waves. Resolving the high energy neutrino sky and furthering our understanding of such extreme environments will require IceCube-Gen2, which will have 8 times the instrumented in-ice volume, in addition to a surface array with radio detectors to extend the energy range up to EeV-ZeV. Such a facility has the potential to probe new phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Indian participation in this exciting endeavour will be discussed.