IceCube

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IceCube
Outlook for Neutrino Detection at the South Pole

• S Robbins
• University of Wuppertal
• Moriond - Contents and Structures of the
  Universe
• La Thuile, Italy, March 2006

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• Scientific Goals
• IceCube Status
• AMANDA Results

Amundsen-Scott South-Pole Station
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• Alabama University, USA
• Bartol Research Institute, Delaware, USA
• Pennsylvania State University, USA
• UC Berkeley, USA
• UC Irvine, USA
• Clark-Atlanta University, USA
• University of Alaska, Anchorage, USA
• Univ. of Maryland, USA

• IAS, Princeton, USA
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
• University of Wisconsin-River Falls, USA
• LBNL, Berkeley, USA
• University of Kansas, USA
• Southern University and AM College, Baton
  Rouge, USA

The IceCube Collaboration
Japan
USA (14)
Europe (15)

• Chiba University, Japan

• University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ

New Zealand

• Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
• Université de Mons-Hainaut, Belgium
• Universiteit Gent, Belgium
• Humboldt Universität, Germany
• Universität Mainz, Germany
• DESY Zeuthen, Germany
• Universität Dortmund, Germany

• Universität Wuppertal, Germany
• MPI Heidelberg, Germany
• Uppsala University, Sweden
• Stockholm University, Sweden
• Imperial College, London, UK
• Oxford University, UK
• Utrecht University, Netherlands

ANTARCTICA
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Physics Goals
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Observing Neutrinos
Fermi acceleration of protons gives particle
spectrum dNp/dE E-2 Neutrino production at
source p? or pp collisions gives pions ? -gt
? ?? ? -gt e ?? ?e Neutrino flavors ?e
?? ?? 120 generic sources 111 after
oscillations
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IceCube
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?? detection principle
Optical module

• Mean ?-? angle is 0.7o at 1TeV
• Muon travels a large distance
• Interaction can be outside the detector
• Active volume is much larger than the detector
• Proposed by Markov 1960

10-20 m
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?e ?? detection principle
Optical module
Charged-current interactions
Neutral-current interactions
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Ice Properties

• Ice not uniform in depth (e.g. dust layers)
• Important to understand ice for analysis

Mean scattering length 25m
Mean absorption length 110m
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Light Propagation

• Cherenkov cone from muon tracks
• Use timing information, accounting for propagation

Homogeneous ice
Depth Dependent ice properties
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Hose reel
IceTop tanks
Hot-water drilling
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IceCube Today

• 2004/2005 season
• New hot water drill
• First string deployed (string 21)
• Four IceTop stations installed (16 OMs)
• 60 OMs in deep ice, all 60
  functioning
• 2005/2006 season
• Modified drill
• 8 strings deployed
• 12 IceTop stations installed
• 480 OMs in deep ice and 48 OMs in
  IceTop

Only IceTop tank
AMANDA
500 m
InIce string IceTop
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String 21 Data

• First IceCube string, deployed January 2005

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AMANDA
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Diffuse Limits

• Measure the neutrino energy spectrum
• Search for a break in the spectrum

Results from one year (2000) of data Consistent
with Atmospheric neutrino expectation
Some AGN models excluded at 90 CL
Szabo-Protehoe 92 Stecker, Salamon. Space Sc.
Rev. 75, 1996 Protehoe. ASP Conf series, 121, 1997
E2??µ(E) lt 2.6107 GeV cm-2 sr-1 s-1
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Point Source Search

• Neutrino sky map

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Neutrinos from GRBs
Using space and time coincidence leads to a very
low background.
No observed signal Only 1 order of magnitude
above WaxmannBahcall prediction
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Solar WIMPs
??
? ? ? ? ? ()
Freese, 86 Krauss, Srednicki Wilczek, 86
Gaisser, Steigman Tilav, 86
Silk, Olive and Srednicki, 85Gaisser, Steigman
Tilav, 86

• Neutralinos captured in the Sun
• These annihilate producing quarks and leptons
• And neutrinos, which we search for with IceCube

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Neutralinos from the Sun
data from 2001
Sun
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Conclusions

• 2005/6 was a successful deployment season
• Now have in total 604 optical modules installed
• Only 1 failure rate
• IceCube is on track for 1km3 neutrino observatory
• AMANDA has taken 10 years of data
• AMANDA continues to produce physics results

• No extraterrestrial neutrinos observed so far
• Stay tuned