High Energy Neutrinos from the Cold Status and Prospects of the Icecube Experiment

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arXiv:0805.3948v1 [astro-ph] 23 May 2008HIGHENERGYNEUTRINOSFROMTHECOLD:STATUSANDPROSPECTSOFTHEICECUBEEXPERIMENT

C.Portello-Roucelle,fortheIceCubecollaborationLawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory,OneCyclotronRoad,Berkeley,CA94720

Theprimarymotivationforbuildingneutrinotelescopesistoopentheroadforneutrinoastronomy,andtoofferanotherobservationalwindowforthestudyofcosmicrayorigins.Otherphysicstopics,suchasthesearchforWIMPs,canalsobedevelopedwithneutrinotelescope.AsofMarch2008,theIceCubedetector,withhalfofitsstringsdeployed,istheworldlargestneutrinotelescopetakingdatatodateanditwillreachitscompletionin2011.Datatakenwiththegrowingdetectorarebeinganalyzed.Theresultsofsomeoftheseworksaresummarizedhere.AMANDAhasbeensuccessfullyintegratedintoIceCubedataacquisitionsystemandcontinuestoaccumulatedata.ResultsobtainedusingonlyAMANDAdatatakenbetweentheyears2000and2006arealsopresented.ThefutureofIceCubeandtheextensionsinbothlowandhighenergyregionswillfinallybediscussedinthelastsection.

1MotivationsforneutrinoastronomywithIceCubeWeexpecttheaccelerationofcosmicraysinastrophysicalobjectstobeaccompaniedbytheproductionofhighenergyneutrinosviapporpγinteractionsattheaccelerationsite1.Thedetectionoftheseneutrinoscouldprovideuswithfundamentalinformationaboutthesesourcesofcosmicrays,themostviolentobjectsintheuniverse.Thepreferredcandidatesforastro-acceleratorsareexpectedtohavelarge-scalestrongshocksand/orstrongmagneticfield,suchasactivegalacticnuclei(AGN),supernovaeremnants,microquasarsorgammaraybursts.Thestudyofsuchobjectsison-goingingammarayastronomywhichhasproducedanimpressiveharvestofresultsinthelastfewyears.Moreover,therecentannouncementoftheAugercol-laborationofapossiblecorrelationbetweenthearrivaldirectionofcosmicrayswithenergiesinexcessof6×1019eVandAGN2reinforcestheinterestinthestudiesonbottom-upprocessesforcosmicraysproductionandmulti-messengerstudies.Forinstance,ifanAGNoriginofthehighestenergycosmicraysweretobeconfirmed,theneutrinofluxfromthoseobjectscouldbewithinreachofakilometerscaledetectorsuchasIceCubewithinafewyears3.

Neutrinosareacompletelyuniquetoolforthestudyofthecosmicraysources.Chargedprotonsbelow1018.5eVarebentbytheinter-galacticmagneticfieldsandnolongerpointbacktotheirsourcesthusmakingprotonastronomyimpossibleatlowenergies.Asforneutralmessengers,thegammaraysarestronglyattenuatedabove50TeVbecauseoftheirinteractionwiththeinfraredbackground,reachingusonlyfromgalacticsourcesathighenergies.Theneutrinos,withtheirweakinteractioncrosssection,aretheonlyparticlesthatallowustoexplorethenonthermicuniverseatcosmologicaldistancesandatallenergies.Nevertheless,ifthisverysmallcrosssectionisanadvantageforthepropagationfromthesource,thedetectionofneutrinosfromastronomicaleventsrequiresaverylargedetectionvolume.AkilometercubescaleisneededtoallowthedetectionofameasurablenumberofeventsinoneyearfromtheexpecteddiffuseneutrinofluxattheWaxman-Bahcallbound4.Severallargescaleneutrinotelescopesarecurrentlytakingdataorunderdevelopmentusingeitherwater(Baikal,ANTARES,NEMO,NESTORandthefuturekilometerscaleKM3Net)oriceasadetectionmedium(IceCubeanditssub-detectorAMANDA).ThesensitivityofIceCubetoastrophysicalneutrinosourcesisgiveninapreviousarticle5.WewillgivehereabriefoverviewoftheresultsofAMANDAforneutrinoastrophysicsinsection4,andwillpresentthefirstpointsourcesearchwithapartialconfigurationofIceCubeinsection5.Inadditiontotheseanalyses,IceCubewillalsolookforhighenergyneutrinosthatareexpectedtobecreatedbyinteractionofthecosmicrayprotonswiththebackgroundradiation6.MorespecificstudiesdonewithIceCubeforsupernovaedetection8andGRBsearches9canalsobefoundintheliterature.

2OtherphysicspotentialoftheexperimentInadditiontohighenergyneutrinoastronomy,IceCube’sscientificreachextendstoparti-clephysicsbylookingforneutrinofromannihilationofweaklyinteractingmassiveparticles(WIMP),liketheneutralino.Thesedarkmattercandidatesareexpectedtoaccumulateingrav-itationalpotentialwellssuchastheEarthorSun.Iftheannihilationproductsoftwotrappedneutralinosincludeneutrinos,aneutrinofluxexcessmaybeobservedinthedirectionofthecen-teroftheEarthorSun.Asaconsequence,neutrinotelescopeslikeIceCube,IceCubeDeepCore(seesection6.2)andAMANDAaimattheindirectdetectionofdarkmatterwiththeSunortheEarthaseffectiveneutrinosources10.TheresultsobtainedwithAMANDAarepresentedinsection4.Othertopicsofparticlephysicscanalsobeadressedbutwillnotbediscussedhere,likethesearchformagneticmonopoles11,strangequarkmatterorSUSYQ-balls12.

3TheIceCubedetectorIceCubeislocatedatthegeographicSouthPole.Neutrinosaredetectedthroughtheirchargedcurrentinteractionsintheiceofthedetectorvolume(orintheicesurroundingthedetectorformuonandtauneutrinos).TheCherenkovlightproducedbythechargedleptonresultingfromthisinteractiontravelsthroughthetransparenticeandiscollectedbythedigitalopticalmodules17(DOMs)ofIceCube.ThecurrentIceCubedesign13consistsof80strings,eachbearing60DOMs.Theyaredeployedatdepthsbetween1450and2450mbelowthesurfaceoftheice,formingthein-icepartofthedetector.TheDOMshaveaspacingof17moneachstringandthestringsformatriangulargridpatternwithaninter-stringspacingof125m,providinga1km3instrumentedvolume.Theburieddetectoristoppedonthesurfacebyanarrayof80stationscalledIceTop14