Abstract 9724599 Besson This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) project will develop a means of detecting ultra-high energy elementary particle showers which develop within the ice sheet at South Pole, Antarctica for the purpose of doing neutrino astronomy. Neutrinos are a decay product of most high energy nuclear interactions; however, they interact only weakly with matter and so can be expected to escape from the region of interaction even if it is surrounded by dust, gas or other obscuring material. If a neutrino telescope can be made to work it will provide a look inside densely obscured regions, such as the center of galaxies and may also point to the (unknown) sources of very high energy cosmic rays and possibly even gamma ray bursts. A major portion of the funding for this project is being provided by the University of Kansas as matching funds. ***
