Speaker
Description
The predictions of the flux of cosmogenic neutrinos at $10^{9}$ GeV are pretty
solid and solely depend on the composition of the primary flux of cosmic-rays
above $10^{10}$ GeV. Pushing the experimental sensitivity into the predicted
flux levels is a challenge and the hunt to detect the first cosmogenic neutrino
is ongoing. A major obstacle for experiments is to get a large enough acceptance
while keeping costs reasonable. We have performed a conceptual design study of
a dedicated array of Cherenkov telescopes that uses the Earth skimming technique
to detect taus, which are produced when tau neutrinos convert in the Earth's
crust and then emerge from the ground. Our study shows that one can build an
experiment based on small Cherenkov telescopes, which reaches a sensitivity of
$2\cdot10^{-9}$ GeV cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ at $10^9$\,GeV for a total
cost envelope of $4M. The projected sensitivity is competitive with other
proposed neutrino experiments in that energy range and outperforms them in terms
of costs. In this talk we present details of our design study and discuss the
proposed array of Cherenkov telescopes, which we named Trinity.
