Description
The detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by IceCube has opened a new window on our Universe. While IceCube has measured the flux of these neutrinos at energies up to several PeV, much remains to be discovered regarding their origin and nature. Currently, measurements are limited by the small number of astrophysical neutrino sources discovered and by the difficulty of discriminating between electron and tau neutrinos. TAMBO is a next-generation neutrino observatory specifically designed to detect tau neutrinos in the 1-100 PeV energy range, enabling tests of neutrino physics at high energies and the characterization of astrophysical neutrino sources. The observatory’s tau neutrino specificity will provide a high-purity sample of astrophysical neutrinos whose locations on the sky can then be used to improve the sensitivities of all-flavor neutrino observatories. TAMBO will comprise an array of water Cherenkov or plastic scintillator detectors deployed on the face of a deep valley, such as the Colca Valley in the Peruvian Andes. This unique geometry will facilitate a high-purity measurement of astrophysical tau neutrino properties and allow us to begin the era of high-energy tau neutrino astronomy.
