A large fiber sensor network for an acoustic neutrino telescope

¹ TNO Technical Sciences, P.O. Box 155, 2600 AD Delft, The Netherlands
² Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, University of Erlangen, Erwin-Rommel-Str. 1, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

^* e-mail: ernst-jan.buis@tno.nl

Published online: 15 March 2017

Abstract

The scientific prospects of detecting neutrinos with an energy close or even higher than the GKZ cut-off energy has been discussed extensively in literature. It is clear that due to their expected low flux, the detection of these ultra-high energy neutrinos (E_v > 10¹⁸ eV) requires a telescope larger than 100 km³. Acoustic detection may provide a way to observe these ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos, as sound that they induce in the deep sea when neutrinos lose their energy travels undisturbed for many kilometers. To realize a large scale acoustic neutrino telescope, dedicated technology must be developed that allows for a deep sea sensor network. Fiber optic hydrophone technology provides a promising means to establish a large scale sensor network [1] with the proper sensitivity to detect the small signals from the neutrino interactions.