Future determination of the neutrino-nucleon cross section at extreme energies

Abstract

Future detectors of cosmic rays, such as EUSO and OWL, can test the Standard Model predictions for the neutrino interactions at energies well beyond the reach of any terrestrial experiment. The relative rates of horizontal and upgoing air showers, combined with the angular distribution of upgoing air showers will allow one to measure the neutrino-nucleon cross section at center-of-mass energy 10^5 GeV or higher.

Talk presented at Workshop on electromagnetic probes of fundamental physics, October 16-21, 2001, Erice, Italy