X-ray binaries (XRB) consist of a compact object, such as a neutron star or a black hole, and a noncompact, companion star. When they are close enough, material is pulled off the star and drawn onto the compact companion, releasing intense X-rays that make them some of the most luminous sources in the sky. Microquasars, […]
We are all surrounded by magnets. Whether they’re on your fridge, in your smartphone, or in your credit card, the magnets you interact with all have one thing in common (well, two things): they each have a north and south pole. Could a magnet ever have just one pole? Yes, according to scientists, and it’s […]
The IceCube-Gen2 Collaboration recently wrapped up a weeklong kick-off meeting to formalize a technical design report for the project. With over 100 participants and 50 talks, the interdisciplinary workshop brought together scientists and engineers from around the world to discuss the status of design and performance requirements that will lay the foundation for IceCube-Gen2’s technical […]
Last week marked the end of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, the largest conference in the world for cosmic ray physics. This year, the entire conference was hosted virtually, which allowed more people from an expanded geographic range to attend; there were approximately 1,800 participants from 55 countries who contributed around 1,350 papers. It […]
In a white paper recently submitted to the Journal of Physics G, the international IceCube-Gen2 Collaboration outlines the need for and design of a next-generation extension of IceCube. By adding new optical and radio instruments to the existing detector, IceCube-Gen2 will increase the annual rate of cosmic neutrino observations by an order of magnitude, and its sensitivity to point sources will increase to five times that of IceCube. […]
The IceCube Collaboration has a robust cohort presenting at the 29th biennial Neutrino conference, the world’s biggest conference in neutrino physics. Three IceCube collaborators will give plenary talks, and there are 30 virtual posters by collaborators. […]
The 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference took place last week at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. There were 82 IceCube contributions at this year’s meeting: two highlight talks, 36 parallel talks, and 43 posters. […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has approved full funding to upgrade the IceCube detector, extending its scientific capabilities to lower energies and thus enabling IceCube to reach neutrino energies that overlap with the energy ranges of smaller existing neutrino detectors worldwide. […]
The launch of the so-called IceCube Upgrade—which will deploy seven new strings at the bottom of the detector array—sets a milestone in what IceCubers have designed as an incremental extension of the Antarctic detector. […]
Growing up on a small, secluded hobby farm in southwestern Wisconsin, the night sky played a major role in my upbringing. Since there is almost no light pollution, the night sky was always bright and clear. In the summer months, my bedtime was determined by the time a specific satellite went over the house. Every year, my family would gather up all the blankets in the house and lay outside to watch meteor showers for hours. From a young age, I loved the idea of learning more about the stars and planets, and as I got into high school, I fell in love with physics. My original plan was to become a high school physics teacher, and I found the University of Wisconsin–River Falls (UWRF) not only has a fantastic physics program but is also involved with IceCube. I had heard about IceCube in 2013, when it won Physics World’s Breakthrough of the Year, and working for IceCube became my new goal and dream. […]