  The undisputed galactic origin of cosmic rays at energies below the so-called
knee implies an existence of a nonthemal population of galactic objects which
effectively accelerate protons and nuclei to TeV-PeV energies. The distinct
signatures of these cosmic accelerators are high energy neutrinos and
gamma-rays produced through hadronic interactions. While gamma-rays can be
produced also by directly accelerated electrons, high energy neutrinos provide
the most straightforward and unambiguous information about the nucleonic
component of accelerated particles. The planned km-cube class high energy
neutrino detectors are expected to be sensitive enough to provide the first
astrophysically meaningful probes of potential VHE neutrino sources. This
optimistic prediction is based on the recent discovery of high energy gamma-ray
sources with hard energy spectra extending to 10 TeV and beyond. Amongst the
best-bet candidates are two young shell-type supernova remnants -
RXJ1713.7-4946 and RXJ0852.0-4622, and perhaps also two prominent plerions -
the Crab Nebula and Vela X. Because of strong absorption of TeV gamma-rays, one
may expect detectable neutrino fluxes also from (somewhat fainter) compact TeV
gamma-ray emitters like the binary systems LS5039 and LS I+61~303, and,
hopefully, from hypothetical "hidden" or "orphan" neutrino sources.
