Auger : A Large Air Shower Array and Neutrino Telescope

Abstract

Detection of Ultra High Energy Neutrinos (UHEN), with energy above 0.l EeV (10**18 eV) is one of the most exciting challenges of high energy astrophysics and particle physics. In this article we show that the Auger Observatories, built to study ultra high energy cosmic rays, are one of the most sensitive neutrino telescopes that will be available in the next decade. Furthermore, we point out that the Waxman-Bahcall upper bound for high energy neutrino fluxes below 1 EeV turns into a lower bound above a few EeV. In this framework and given the experimental evidences for nu_mu <--> nu_tau oscillations with large mixing, we conclude that observation of Tau UHEN in the southern Auger Observatory should most certainly occur within the next five years.