Proc. Neutrino Astrophysics - MPP Theory Group

Preface
This was the fourth workshop in our series of annual “retreats” of the Sonderforschungsbereich
Astroteilchenphysik (Special Research Center for Astroparticle Physics), or SFB for
short, to the Ringberg Castle above Lake Tegernsee in the foothills of the Alps. These
meetings are meant to bring together the members of the SFB which are dispersed between
four institutions in the Munich area, the Technical University Munich (TUM), the Ludwig-
Maximilians-University (LMU), and the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics (MPP) and that
for Astrophysics (MPA). We always invite a number of external speakers, including visitors
at our institutions, to complement the scientific program and to further the exchange of ideas
with the international community.
This year’s topic was “Neutrino Astrophysics” which undoubtedly is one of the central
pillars of astroparticle physics. We focused on the astrophysical and observational aspects
of this field, deliberately leaving out theoretical particle physics and laboratory experiments
from the agenda. Each day of the workshop was dedicated to a specific sub-topic, ranging
from solar, supernova and atmospheric neutrinos over high-energy cosmic rays to the early
universe. A session on future prospects served to conclude the workshop and provide an
outlook on the field in the next decade and beyond. We started every topical session with one
or two introductory talks, reviewing the status of theory and experiment and to providing
some background for the non-experts.
For the entire program we interpreted “neutrino astrophysics” in a broad sense, including,
for example, the physics of γ-ray bursts or the recent observations of TeV γ-rays by the
imaging air-Cherenkov technique. Some of the after-dinner-talks went significantly beyond a
narrow interpretation of the field! From our perspective the profile of neutrino astrophysics
as defined by our program worked very well, even better than we had hoped. We are proud
that the main complaint of the participants seemed to be that they did not get enough
mountain-hiking done because the sessions were too interesting to miss.
Besides regular SFB resources this workshop was made possible by a direct grant from
the Max-Planck-Society and additional funds from the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics.
Special thanks go to the SFB secretary, Maria Depner, for her smooth and skillful management
of all practical matters related to the workshop.
We thank the participants for their high-level contributions and for being extremely cooperative
in submitting the “extended abstracts” of their talks on time and in a format that
allowed us to produce these proceedings in electronic form. Anyone interested in a printed
version should write to the SFB secretary at the address given on the previous page. We
hope that you will find this booklet a useful and up-to-date resource for the exciting and
fast-developing field of neutrino astrophysics.
Michael Altmann, Wolfgang Hillebrandt, Hans-Thomas Janka and Georg Raffelt
Munich, January 1998
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