The forest as a neutrino detector

Abstract

The primary challenge in detecting ultrahigh energy (UHE) neutrinos with energies exceeding $10^{16}$ eV is to instrument a large enough volume to detect the extremely low flux, which falls as $\sim E^{-2}$. We explore in this article the feasibility of using the forest as a detector. Trees have been shown to be efficient broadband antennas, and may, without damage to the tree, be instrumented with a minimum of apparatus. A large scale array of such trees may be the key to achieving the requisite target volumes for UHE neutrino astronomy.