S. Flis

Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector

Introduction Neutrino observations are a unique probe of the universe’s highest-energy phenomena: Neutrinos are able to escape from dense astrophysical environments that photons cannot and are unambiguous tracers of cosmic ray acceleration. As protons and nuclei are accelerated, they interact with gas and background light near the source to produce subatomic particles such as charged pions and kaons, which then decay, emitting neutrinos. We report on results of an all-sky search for these neutrinos at energies above 30 TeV in the cubic kilometer antarctic IceCube observatory between May 2010 and May 2012. A 250 TeV neutrino interaction in IceCube. At the neutrino interaction point (bottom), a large particle shower is visible, with a muon produced in the interaction leaving up and to the left. The direction of the muon indicates the direction of the original neutrino. Methods We have isolated a sample of neutrinos by rejecting background muons from cosmic ray showers in the atmosphere, selecting only those neutrino candidates that are first observed in the detector interior rather than on the detector boundary. This search is primarily sensitive to neutrinos from all directions above 60 TeV, at which the lower-energy background atmospheric neutrinos become rare, with some sensitivity down to energies of 30 TeV. Penetrating muon backgrounds were evaluated using an in-data control sample, with atmospheric neutrino predictions based on theoretical modeling and extrapolation from previous lower-energy measurements. Results We observed 28 neutrino candidate events (two previously reported), substantially more than the 10.6 −3.6 +5.0 expected from atmospheric backgrounds, and ranging in energy from 30 to 1200 TeV. With the current level of statistics, we did not observe significant clustering of these events in time or space, preventing the identification of their sources at this time. Discussion The data contain a mixture of neutrino flavors compatible with flavor equipartition, originate primarily from the Southern Hemisphere where high-energy neutrinos are not absorbed by Earth, and have a hard energy spectrum compatible with that expected from cosmic ray accelerators. Within our present knowledge, the directions, energies, and topologies of these events are not compatible with expectations for terrestrial processes, deviating at the 4σ level from standard assumptions for the atmospheric background. These properties, in particular the north-south asymmetry, generically disfavor any purely atmospheric explanation for the data. Although not compatible with an atmospheric explanation, the data do match expectations for an origin in unidentified high-energy galactic or extragalactic neutrino accelerators. Extraterrestrial Neutrinos Neutrinos are thought to be produced in astrophysical sources outside our solar system but, up until recently, they had only been observed from one supernova in 1987. Aartsen et al. (10.1126/science.1242856; see the cover) report data obtained between 2010 and 2012 with the IceCube neutrino detector that reveal the presence of a high-energy neutrino flux containing the most energetic neutrinos ever observed, including 28 events at energies between 30 and 1200 TeV. Although the origin of this flux is unknown, the findings are consistent with expectations for a neutrino population with origins outside the solar system. The IceCube observatory at the South Pole detected neutrinos from outside our solar system. We report on results of an all-sky search for high-energy neutrino events interacting within the IceCube neutrino detector conducted between May 2010 and May 2012. The search follows up on the previous detection of two PeV neutrino events, with improved sensitivity and extended energy coverage down to about 30 TeV. Twenty-six additional events were observed, substantially more than expected from atmospheric backgrounds. Combined, both searches reject a purely atmospheric origin for the 28 events at the 4σ level. These 28 events, which include the highest energy neutrinos ever observed, have flavors, directions, and energies inconsistent with those expected from the atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds. These properties are, however, consistent with generic predictions for an additional component of extraterrestrial origin.

First Observation of PeV-Energy Neutrinos with IceCube

We report on the observation of two neutrino-induced events which have an estimated deposited energy in the IceCube detector of 1.04±0.16 and 1.14±0.17 PeV, respectively, the highest neutrino energies observed so far. These events are consistent with fully contained particle showers induced by neutral-current ν(e,μ,τ) (ν(e,μ,τ)) or charged-current ν(e) (ν(e)) interactions within the IceCube detector. The events were discovered in a search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos using data corresponding to 615.9 days effective live time. The expected number of atmospheric background is 0.082±0.004(stat)(-0.057)(+0.041)(syst). The probability of observing two or more candidate events under the atmospheric background-only hypothesis is 2.9×10(-3) (2.8σ) taking into account the uncertainty on the expected number of background events. These two events could be a first indication of an astrophysical neutrino flux; the moderate significance, however, does not permit a definitive conclusion at this time.

Search for Dark Matter Annihilations in the Sun with the 79-String IceCube Detector

We have performed a search for muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the center of the Sun with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the DeepCore subarray is included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. The 317 days of data collected between June 2010 and May 2011 are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits are set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with conversions to limits on spin-dependent and spin-independent scattering cross sections of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) on protons, for WIMP masses in the range 20-5000  GeV/c2. These are the most stringent spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross section limits to date above 35  GeV/c2 for most WIMP models.

Measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum with IceTop-73

We report on the measurement of the all particle cosmic ray energy spectrum with the IceTop air shower array in the energy range from 1.6 PeV up to 1.3 EeV. The IceTop air shower array is the surface component of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the geographical South Pole. The analysis was performed using IceTop in its 73 station configuration when it was 90% complete. The spectrum was derived using an iterative unfolding with shower size as an energy proxy. Corresponding authors: Bakhtiyar Ruzybayev1, Javier Gonzalez1 1 University of Delaware

IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in nearby galaxies and galaxy clusters

We present the results of a first search for self-annihilating dark matter in nearby galaxies and galaxy clusters using a sample of high-energy neutrinos acquired in 339.8 days of live time during 2009/10 with the IceCube neutrino observatory in its 59-string configuration. The targets of interest include the Virgo and Coma galaxy clusters, the Andromeda galaxy, and several dwarf galaxies. We obtain upper limits on the cross section as a function of the weakly interacting massive particle mass between 300 GeV and 100 TeV for the annihilation into b (b) over bar, W+(W) over bar (-), tau(+)tau(-), mu(+)mu(-) , and nu(nu) over bar. A limit derived for the Virgo cluster, when assuming a large effect from subhalos, challenges the weakly interacting massive particle interpretation of a recently observed GeV positron excess in cosmic rays.

Search for Galactic PeV gamma rays with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Gamma-ray induced air showers are notable for their lack of muons, compared to hadronic showers. Hence, air shower arrays with large underground muon detectors can select a sample greatly enriched in photon showers by rejecting showers containing muons. IceCube is sensitive to muons with energies above similar to 500 GeV at the surface, which provides an efficient veto system for hadronic air showers with energies above 1 PeV. One year of data from the 40-string IceCube configuration was used to perform a search for point sources and a Galactic diffuse signal. No sources were found, resulting in a 90% C.L. upper limit on the ratio of gamma rays to cosmic rays of 1.2 x 10(-3) for the flux coming from the Galactic plane region (-80 degrees less than or similar to l less than or similar to -30 degrees; -10 degrees less than or similar to b less than or similar to 5 degrees) in the energy range 1.2-6.0 PeV. In the same energy range, point source fluxes with E-2 spectra have been excluded at a level of (E/TeV)(2)d Phi/dE similar to 10(-12)-10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 depending on source declination. The complete IceCube detector will have a better sensitivity (due to the larger detector size), improved reconstruction, and vetoing techniques. Preliminary data from the nearly final IceCube detector configuration have been used to estimate the 5-yr sensitivity of the full detector. It is found to be more than an order of magnitude better, allowing the search for PeV extensions of known TeV gamma-ray emitters.

Search for ultrahigh-energy tau neutrinos with IceCube

The first dedicated search for ultrahigh-energy (UHE) tau neutrinos of astrophysical origin was performed using the IceCube detector in its 22-string configuration with an instrumented volume of roughly 0: 25 km(3). The search also had sensitivity to UHE electron and muon neutrinos. After application of all selection criteria to approximately 200 live-days of data, we expect a background of 0.60 +/- 0.19(stat)(-0.58)(+0.56)(syst) events and observe three events, which after inspection, emerge as being compatible with background but are kept in the final sample. Therefore, we set an upper limit on neutrinos of all flavors from UHE astrophysical sources at 90% C.L. of E-v(2)Phi(90)(v(x)) < 16.3 x 10(-8) GeV cm(-2) sr(-1) s(-1) over an estimated primary neutrino energy range of 340 TeV to 200 PeV.

Lateral Distribution of Muons in IceCube Cosmic Ray Events

In cosmic ray air showers, the muon lateral separation from the center of the shower is a measure of the transverse momentum that the muon parent acquired in the cosmic ray interaction. IceCube has observed cosmic ray interactions that produce muons laterally separated by up to 400 m from the shower core, a factor of 6 larger distance than previous measurements. These muons originate in high p(T) (> 2 GeV/c) interactions from the incident cosmic ray, or high-energy secondary interactions. The separation distribution shows a transition to a power law at large values, indicating the presence of a hard p(T) component that can be described by perturbative quantum chromodynamics. However, the rates and the zenith angle distributions of these events are not well reproduced with the cosmic ray models tested here, even those that include charm interactions. This discrepancy may be explained by a larger fraction of kaons and charmed particles than is currently incorporated in the simulations. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.012005

Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino interaction cross-section with IceCube using Earth absorption

Neutrinos interact only very weakly, so they are extremely penetrating. The theoretical neutrino–nucleon interaction cross-section, however, increases with increasing neutrino energy, and neutrinos with energies above 40 teraelectronvolts (TeV) are expected to be absorbed as they pass through the Earth. Experimentally, the cross-section has been determined only at the relatively low energies (below 0.4 TeV) that are available at neutrino beams from accelerators. Here we report a measurement of neutrino absorption by the Earth using a sample of 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons. The flux of high-energy neutrinos transiting long paths through the Earth is attenuated compared to a reference sample that follows shorter trajectories. Using a fit to the two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we determine the neutrino–nucleon interaction cross-section for neutrino energies 6.3–980 TeV, more than an order of magnitude higher than previous measurements. The measured cross-section is about 1.3 times the prediction of the standard model, consistent with the expectations for charged- and neutral-current interactions. We do not observe a large increase in the cross-section with neutrino energy, in contrast with the predictions of some theoretical models, including those invoking more compact spatial dimensions or the production of leptoquarks. This cross-section measurement can be used to set limits on the existence of some hypothesized beyond-standard-model particles, including leptoquarks.

Final characterisation and design of the Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) for the Cherenkov telescope array

The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is one of the telescopes proposed for the Small Sized Telescope (SST) section of CTA. Based on a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder design, which allows for more compact telescopes and cameras than the usual single-mirror designs, it will be equipped with a Compact High-Energy Camera (CHEC) based on silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). In 2015, the GCT prototype was the first dual-mirror telescope constructed in the prospect of CTA to record Cherenkov light on the night sky. Further tests and observations have been performed since then. This report describes the current status of the GCT, the results of tests performed to demonstrate its compliance with CTA requirements, and the optimisation of the design for mass production. The GCT collaboration, including teams from Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, plans to install the first telescopes on site in Chile for 2019-2020 as part of the CTA pre-production phase.