APS neutrino astrophysics and cosmology working group report

[Chronos]

Neutrino astrophysics fans may find this recent paper interesting:

APS Neutrino Study: Report of the Neutrino Astrophysics and Cosmology Working Group
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0412544

I took the liberty of pasting a couple quotes I found provacative

..if any source can produce neutrino energies that extend up to ~10E22 eV, then it becomes possible to directly observe the cosmological neutrino background, a residue from the Big Bang.

Detection of relic neutrinos dating back almost to the BB?! Now that would be something.

The stability of individual dark matter particles is typically guaranteed by a conserved parity. These conservation laws, however, allow pairs of dark matter particles to annihilate into ordinary particles, providing a signal for dark matter detection.Such signals are, of course, greatly enhanced when the dark matter particle density and annihilation rate are large, as they are expected to be at the center of astrophysical bodies. Unfortunately, when dark matter particles annihilate in these regions, most of their annihilation products are immediately absorbed. Neutrinos, however, are not.

Direct detection of detect dark matter?! That would be pretty exciting too.

 

[Nereid]

Thanks Chronos.

The ability to detect - even indirectly - relict neutrinos, wow!