An All-Sky, Three-Flavor Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory ...

• Main Author: Hellauer, Robert Eugene
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland 2015
• Subjects: Physics; Astrophysics; Particle physics; cascade; cosmic rays; gamma-ray burst; grb; icecube; neutrino; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m27d9c; http://hdl.handle.net/1903/17321

Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), defined by energy greater than 10^18 eV, have been observed for decades, but their sources remain unknown. Protons and heavy ions, which comprise cosmic rays, interact with galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields and, consequently, do not point back to their sources upon measurement. Neutrinos, which are inevitably produced in photohadronic interactions, travel unimpeded through the universe and disclose the directions of their sources. Among the most plausible candidates for the origins of UHECRs is a class of astrophysical phenomena known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). GRBs are the most violent and energetic events witnessed in the observable universe. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located in the glacial ice 1450 m to 2450 m below the South Pole surface, is the largest neutrino detector in operation. IceCube detects charged particles, such as those emitted in high energy neutrino interactions in the ice, by the Cherenkov light radiated by these particles. The ...