Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube
Weakly interacting neutrinos are ideal astronomical messengers because they travel through space without deflection by magnetic fields and, essentially, without absorption. Their weak interaction also makes them notoriously difficult to detect, with observation of high-energy neutrinos from distant...
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| Format: | Text |
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arXiv
2018
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.11112 |
| _version_ | 1821607968513196032 |
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| author | Ahlers, Markus Halzen, Francis |
| author_facet | Ahlers, Markus Halzen, Francis |
| author_sort | Ahlers, Markus |
| collection | DataCite |
| description | Weakly interacting neutrinos are ideal astronomical messengers because they travel through space without deflection by magnetic fields and, essentially, without absorption. Their weak interaction also makes them notoriously difficult to detect, with observation of high-energy neutrinos from distant sources requiring kilometer-scale detectors. The IceCube project transformed a cubic kilometer of natural Antarctic ice at the geographic South Pole into a Cherenkov detector. It discovered a flux of cosmic neutrinos in the energy range from 10 TeV to 10 PeV, predominantly extragalactic in origin. Their corresponding energy density is close to that of high-energy photons detected by gamma-ray satellites and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays observed with large surface detectors. Neutrinos are therefore ubiquitous in the nonthermal universe, suggesting a more significant role of protons (nuclei) relative to electrons than previously anticipated. Thus, anticipating an essential role for multimessenger astronomy, IceCube is planning significant upgrades of the present instrument as well as a next-generation detector. Similar detectors are under construction in the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Baikal. : 27+7 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics |
| format | Text |
| genre | Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole |
| genre_facet | Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole |
| geographic | Antarctic South Pole |
| geographic_facet | Antarctic South Pole |
| id | ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 |
| institution | Open Polar |
| language | unknown |
| op_collection_id | ftdatacite |
| op_doi | https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2018.05.001 |
| op_relation | https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2018.05.001 |
| op_rights | arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | arXiv |
| record_format | openpolar |
| spelling | ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 2025-01-16T19:09:09+00:00 Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube Ahlers, Markus Halzen, Francis 2018 https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.11112 unknown arXiv https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2018.05.001 arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena astro-ph.HE High Energy Physics - Phenomenology hep-ph FOS Physical sciences article-journal Article ScholarlyArticle Text 2018 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2018.05.001 2022-04-01T09:34:13Z Weakly interacting neutrinos are ideal astronomical messengers because they travel through space without deflection by magnetic fields and, essentially, without absorption. Their weak interaction also makes them notoriously difficult to detect, with observation of high-energy neutrinos from distant sources requiring kilometer-scale detectors. The IceCube project transformed a cubic kilometer of natural Antarctic ice at the geographic South Pole into a Cherenkov detector. It discovered a flux of cosmic neutrinos in the energy range from 10 TeV to 10 PeV, predominantly extragalactic in origin. Their corresponding energy density is close to that of high-energy photons detected by gamma-ray satellites and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays observed with large surface detectors. Neutrinos are therefore ubiquitous in the nonthermal universe, suggesting a more significant role of protons (nuclei) relative to electrons than previously anticipated. Thus, anticipating an essential role for multimessenger astronomy, IceCube is planning significant upgrades of the present instrument as well as a next-generation detector. Similar detectors are under construction in the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Baikal. : 27+7 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics Text Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole DataCite Antarctic South Pole |
| spellingShingle | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena astro-ph.HE High Energy Physics - Phenomenology hep-ph FOS Physical sciences Ahlers, Markus Halzen, Francis Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title | Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title_full | Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title_fullStr | Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title_full_unstemmed | Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title_short | Opening a New Window onto the Universe with IceCube |
| title_sort | opening a new window onto the universe with icecube |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena astro-ph.HE High Energy Physics - Phenomenology hep-ph FOS Physical sciences |
| topic_facet | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena astro-ph.HE High Energy Physics - Phenomenology hep-ph FOS Physical sciences |
| url | https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1805.11112 https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.11112 |