A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
The origin of observed ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, energies in excess of $10^{18.5}$ eV) remains unknown, as extragalactic magnetic fields deflect these charged particles from their true origin. Interactions of these UHECRs at their source would invariably produce high energy neutrinos. A...
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ftdatacite:10.13016/m2449p 2023-05-15T18:23:25+02:00 A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory Maunu, Ryan Edward 2016 https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m2449p http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/18620 en eng Digital Repository at the University of Maryland Physics Astrophysics Particle physics Gamma-Ray Bursts GRBs High energy neutrinos IceCube UHECRs Ultra-high energy cosmic rays Thesis Collection Dissertation thesis 2016 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.13016/m2449p 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z The origin of observed ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, energies in excess of $10^{18.5}$ eV) remains unknown, as extragalactic magnetic fields deflect these charged particles from their true origin. Interactions of these UHECRs at their source would invariably produce high energy neutrinos. As these neutrinos are chargeless and nearly massless, their propagation through the universe is unimpeded and their detection can be correlated with the origin of UHECRs. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are one of the few possible origins for UHECRs, observed as short, immensely bright outbursts of gamma-rays at cosmological distances. The energy density of GRBs in the universe is capable of explaining the measured UHECR flux, making them promising UHECR sources. Interactions between UHECRs and the prompt gamma-ray emission of a GRB would produce neutrinos that would be detected in coincidence with the GRB’s gamma-ray emission. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory can be used to search for these neutrinos in coincidence with GRBs, detecting neutrinos through the Cherenkov radiation emitted by secondary charged particles produced in neutrino interactions in the South Pole glacial ice. Restricting these searches to be in coincidence with GRB gamma-ray emis- sion, analyses can be performed with very little atmospheric background. Previous searches have focused on detecting muon tracks from muon neutrino interactions fromthe Northern Hemisphere, where the Earth shields IceCube’s primary background of atmospheric muons, or spherical cascade events from neutrinos of all flavors from the entire sky, with no compelling neutrino signal found. Neutrino searches from GRBs with IceCube have been extended to a search for muon tracks in the Southern Hemisphere in coincidence with 664 GRBs over five years of IceCube data in this dissertation. Though this region of the sky contains IceCube’s primary background of atmospheric muons, it is also where IceCube is most sensitive to neutrinos at the very highest energies as Earth absorption in the Northern Hemisphere becomes relevant. As previous neutrino searches have strongly constrained neutrino production in GRBs, a new per-GRB analysis is introduced for the first time to discover neutrinos in coincidence with possibly rare neutrino-bright GRBs. A stacked analysis is also performed to discover a weak neutrino signal distributed over many GRBs. Results of this search are found to be consistent with atmospheric muon backgrounds. Combining this result with previously published searches for muon neutrino tracks in the Northern Hemisphere, cascade event searches over the entire sky, and an extension of the Northern Hemisphere track search in three additional years of IceCube data that is consistent with atmospheric backgrounds, the most stringent limits yet can be placed on prompt neutrino production in GRBs, which increasingly disfavor GRBs as primary sources of UHECRs in current GRB models. Thesis South pole DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Sion ENVELOPE(13.758,13.758,66.844,66.844) South Pole |
institution |
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collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics Astrophysics Particle physics Gamma-Ray Bursts GRBs High energy neutrinos IceCube UHECRs Ultra-high energy cosmic rays |
spellingShingle |
Physics Astrophysics Particle physics Gamma-Ray Bursts GRBs High energy neutrinos IceCube UHECRs Ultra-high energy cosmic rays Maunu, Ryan Edward A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
topic_facet |
Physics Astrophysics Particle physics Gamma-Ray Bursts GRBs High energy neutrinos IceCube UHECRs Ultra-high energy cosmic rays |
description |
The origin of observed ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, energies in excess of $10^{18.5}$ eV) remains unknown, as extragalactic magnetic fields deflect these charged particles from their true origin. Interactions of these UHECRs at their source would invariably produce high energy neutrinos. As these neutrinos are chargeless and nearly massless, their propagation through the universe is unimpeded and their detection can be correlated with the origin of UHECRs. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are one of the few possible origins for UHECRs, observed as short, immensely bright outbursts of gamma-rays at cosmological distances. The energy density of GRBs in the universe is capable of explaining the measured UHECR flux, making them promising UHECR sources. Interactions between UHECRs and the prompt gamma-ray emission of a GRB would produce neutrinos that would be detected in coincidence with the GRB’s gamma-ray emission. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory can be used to search for these neutrinos in coincidence with GRBs, detecting neutrinos through the Cherenkov radiation emitted by secondary charged particles produced in neutrino interactions in the South Pole glacial ice. Restricting these searches to be in coincidence with GRB gamma-ray emis- sion, analyses can be performed with very little atmospheric background. Previous searches have focused on detecting muon tracks from muon neutrino interactions fromthe Northern Hemisphere, where the Earth shields IceCube’s primary background of atmospheric muons, or spherical cascade events from neutrinos of all flavors from the entire sky, with no compelling neutrino signal found. Neutrino searches from GRBs with IceCube have been extended to a search for muon tracks in the Southern Hemisphere in coincidence with 664 GRBs over five years of IceCube data in this dissertation. Though this region of the sky contains IceCube’s primary background of atmospheric muons, it is also where IceCube is most sensitive to neutrinos at the very highest energies as Earth absorption in the Northern Hemisphere becomes relevant. As previous neutrino searches have strongly constrained neutrino production in GRBs, a new per-GRB analysis is introduced for the first time to discover neutrinos in coincidence with possibly rare neutrino-bright GRBs. A stacked analysis is also performed to discover a weak neutrino signal distributed over many GRBs. Results of this search are found to be consistent with atmospheric muon backgrounds. Combining this result with previously published searches for muon neutrino tracks in the Northern Hemisphere, cascade event searches over the entire sky, and an extension of the Northern Hemisphere track search in three additional years of IceCube data that is consistent with atmospheric backgrounds, the most stringent limits yet can be placed on prompt neutrino production in GRBs, which increasingly disfavor GRBs as primary sources of UHECRs in current GRB models. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Maunu, Ryan Edward |
author_facet |
Maunu, Ryan Edward |
author_sort |
Maunu, Ryan Edward |
title |
A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
title_short |
A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
title_full |
A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
title_fullStr |
A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Search for Muon Neutrinos in Coincidence with Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Southern Hemisphere Sky Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory |
title_sort |
search for muon neutrinos in coincidence with gamma-ray bursts in the southern hemisphere sky using the icecube neutrino observatory |
publisher |
Digital Repository at the University of Maryland |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m2449p http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/18620 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.758,13.758,66.844,66.844) |
geographic |
Sion South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Sion South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.13016/m2449p |
_version_ |
1766202998468378624 |