Semianalytic Cascade Theory

We give a simple, semianalytic theory of the development of the hadronic and neutrino/muon components of a cascade induced by a primary which produces hadrons at the initial interaction. The main purpose of the theory is to allow the user to obtain quick, but reasonably reliable estimates of the longitudinal properties of such cascades developing in a medium, such as a stellar interior, the atmosphere and/or water. As an application, we discuss the possibility of discovering physics beyond the Standard Model by means of neutrino telescopes. Some of those events may have spectacular signatures in neutrino telescopes.