Design and Status of IceCube
IceCube is a kilometer-scale high energy neutrino detector that builds on the wealth of experience accumulated with its smaller predecessor, AMANDA. An international collaboration has begun construction of key components of the IceCube detector and deployment operations at the South Pole will begin...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2004
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.338.1689 http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0405008v1.pdf |
| Summary: | IceCube is a kilometer-scale high energy neutrino detector that builds on the wealth of experience accumulated with its smaller predecessor, AMANDA. An international collaboration has begun construction of key components of the IceCube detector and deployment operations at the South Pole will begin in late 2004. The underlying design of the IceCube detector and of the DAQ system are presented here, emphasizing the digital optical modules (DOMs) as the smallest discrete IceCube building block. The event reconstruction critically relies on a relative timing accuracy from DOM to DOM of a few nanoseconds over inter-DOM separations of up to 1km. 1 Physics goals Through the detection of very high-energy neutrinos (threshold a few 100 GeV), IceCube [2,3] will open a new window on the universe. By viewing astronomical sources with neutrinos as astronomical messengers, it will address fundamental questions in high energyastrophysics, particle physics and cosmology. Through the detection of surface electrons and muons, the associated IceTop surface array will allow us to study the chemical composition of high energy cosmic rays (E ∼ 10 18 eV) and will also help calibrate IceCube and provide a background veto. IceCube and underwater neutrino telescopes [4] share scientific interests, such as searches for steady or variable neutrino emission from point like source candidates like active galactic nuclei (AGN), supernova remnants (SNR), microquasars and gamma ray bursts (GRB). By virtue of the low ambient noise level in the ice, the ability to detect lowenergy supernova neutrinos as an increase in the overall trigger rate is unique |
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