GZK Neutrino Search with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory using New Cosmic Ray Background Rejection Methods ...
Ultra high energy neutrinos are important astrophysical messengers that carry information on processes taking place in extreme astrophysical environments. The detection of neutrinos originating from the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) process would confirm the proton dominance in the composition of th...
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| Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Lausanne, EPFL
2013
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5075/epfl-thesis-5813 https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/92892 |
| Summary: | Ultra high energy neutrinos are important astrophysical messengers that carry information on processes taking place in extreme astrophysical environments. The detection of neutrinos originating from the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) process would confirm the proton dominance in the composition of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) as well as help to identify the unknown sources of the charged particles. Data taken between April 2008 and May 2009 by the IceCube neutrino observatory in its 40 strings configuration were used for an all-flavour GZK neutrino event search. The main challenge for this search was the separation of the faint GZK neutrino signal (order of 1 event per year) from the several orders of magnitude higher atmospheric muon background. Special focus was given to identifying the topological differences between signal and background events and, based on them, the development of new background rejection techniques. High energy events have been pre-selected by requiring a minimum amount ... |
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