Space-based Cosmic Neutrino Measurements

@misc{krizmanic2026spacebased,
  title = {{Space-based Cosmic Neutrino Measurements}},
  author = {John F. Krizmanic},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.08748},
  eprint = {2610.08748},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08748},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Space-based Cosmic Neutrino Measurements
AU  - John F. Krizmanic
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.08748
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08748
AB  - Space-based neutrino detection employs celestial bodies, the Earth, moon, and the sun, as neutrino targets and particle cascade generators. These cascades, or showers, have an immense content of charged particles, mainly electrons and positrons, that can form signals that can be detected by orbiting or balloon-borne (for the Earth) experiments. Here the focus will be on the using the Earth as the neutrino target and using the atmosphere to generate optical and radio signals from extensive air showers (EAS). Cascades in the Earth itself can also generate Askaryan radiation in ice, where the radio transparency allows the signal from in ice neutrino-induced showers to eventually refract out of the Earth's surface. These different techniques also have different neutrino-flavor detection sensitivities and duty cycles, i.e. experimental live time fractions. For example, optical measurements need to be performed close to astronomical night and are also affected by the level of moonlight and distribution of clouds in the the viewing direction of the EAS. The radio technique can be operate with nearly 100\% efficiency, as long as sources of anthropogenic and other backgrounds are minimal. Given the distances for viewing the neutrino-induced signals from sub-orbital or low Earth orbit (LEO) altitudes, the neutrino energy thresholds for detection are currently above ∼ 1 PeV for optical Cherenkov detection and 100 PeV for radio detection. In this chapter, the nature of the cosmic neutrino interactions, shower development, and optical and radio signal generation and detection will be detailed. This will be done by discussing experiments that have used such signals to set limits on the very-high and ultra-high energy cosmic neutrino flux. We will also discuss the design and simulated performance of the next generation of space-based cosmic neutrino detection experiments.
ER  -