Recording of ultrahigh-energy astrophysical neutrinos

This review is devoted to the problems of recording ultrahigh-energy neutrinos produced in distant astrophysical sources and during the decay of supermassive particles. Prospects for the detection of neutrino fluxes are considered based on peculiarities of the propagation and interaction of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos. The operating and planned facilities designed to investigate neutrinos from various sources are described: neutrino telescopes recording neutrino interactions in natural water and ice volumes; ground-based arrays of detectors and optical telescopes onboard orbital space stations capable of detecting neutrino-triggered horizontal air showers. Instruments based on new principles of recording neutrinos with extremely high energies are considered: radio telescopes designed to observe Cherenkov radio emission from neutrino cascades originating in such radio-transparent natural environments as the atmosphere, salt domes, ice packs, and lunar regolith; underwater acoustic detectors. It is shown that putting new facilities into operation will allow neutrinos from most of the known astrophysical sources with energies differing by more than ten orders of magnitude, from 1012 to 1022–1024 eV, to be recorded.