高能中微子天文观测进展

Observational progress in high energy neutrino astronomy

高能宇宙线在宇宙加速器中的产生和在宇宙空间的传播通常会伴随高能中微子的产生.高能中微子天文学是了解高能天体物理现象的独特的窗口.最近,位于南极的立方公里级的中微子探测器IceCube探测到了一批高能(>Te V)事例,在5.7σ的置信度之上排除了大气背景的起源.这是人类第一次探测到的来自地外的高能中微子事例,开启了人类探索宇宙的一个新的窗口,标志着高能中微子天文学的诞生.本文简要介绍了高能中微子的探测历史,高能中微子探测器(特别是IceCube)的探测原理及现状,IceCube中微子探测结果,中微子起源的理论探讨以及高能中微子天文的未来展望.

The production and propagation of cosmic rays in the universe are usually accompanied by high energy neutrino production. High energy neutrino astronomy is a unique window for high energy astrophysics. Recently, the south-pole neutrino experiment IceCube has reported the detections of 37 high energy （〉TeV） events, which reject pure atmospheric origin in 5.7σ confidence level. This is the first detection of extraterrestrial high energy neutrinos, opening a brand new window to observe the universe, and marking the birth of the high energy neutrino astronomy. In this paper, we briefly introduce the history of high energy neutrino astronomy, the high energy neutrino experiments, the recent results from IceCube, and then we make general discussion on the origin of IceCube detected neutrinos, and finally some prospects in high energy neutrino astronomy.