This year, IceCube collaborator and Harvard University physics professor Carlos Argüelles-Delgado is among 10 emerging research leaders selected for the 2024-2026 cohort of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Global Scholars program, generously supported by the Azrieli Foundation. This ambitious next-generation initiative provides two years of unrestricted funding to talented researchers tackling important and […]
With record-breaking winds last week, the South Pole station spent a few days in lockdown mode, restricting off-station travel to critical operations only. Staying indoors might put a halt to outdoor photography plans, but it doesn’t hamper fun activities held indoors. Last week, the station had a burger bar (that’s IceCube winterover Kalvin, above, whipping […]
There they are—those big, expansive, colorful auroras that seem to fill the sky! The highlight for last week at the Pole might have been the auroras, but it’s worth noting that capturing these lovely photographs required braving really cold temperatures and high winds. Still, auroras alone might be enough motivation for some folks to venture […]
Neutrinos are tiny “ghostlike” particles that traverse long distances across the universe, interacting with matter only through the weak force. They come in three different types or “flavors”—electron, muon, and tau—and during their journey through the atmosphere and the Earth can transform from one flavor to another. This phenomenon, called neutrino oscillation, is a subject […]
A very large moon halo dominated the sky, here seen above the South Pole Telescope when conditions were just right last week. IceCube’s winterovers were busy as usual last week, and a few of their activities took them outside. With clear weather, they were able to enjoy views of auroras (no photos though) in addition […]
As cosmic rays crash into the Earth’s atmosphere, air showers containing atmospheric muons and neutrinos are produced. The atmospheric neutrinos are then detected by DeepCore, a denser array of sensors in the center of the IceCube detector at the South Pole. Compared to the main IceCube detector, DeepCore is sensitive to neutrinos down to energies […]
The origins of extremely energetic particles, called cosmic rays, continue to puzzle astronomers. Some of the highest energy cosmic ray protons can reach one million billion electronvolts (PeV) in energy, but the sources of these protons, or PeVatrons, have been difficult to pin down. Cosmic rays accelerated by PeVatrons produce pions when interacting with surrounding […]
When it’s really cold outside—like with temperatures approaching -100°F!—it’s nice to have lots of fun things going on indoors at the Pole. Sure, there was work, and IceCube winterovers Connor and Kalvin had plenty to do: multiple webcasts for the IceCube Masterclass, deployment testing for the latest data acquisition software release, and debugging the IceAct […]
University of Wisconsin–Madison physicist Francis Halzen has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Halzen is one of 120 scientists elected this year in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, according to the academy’s announcement of the new members this week. Election to the academy is among the highest honors that a scientist can receive. […]
At the South Pole, the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube Neutrino Observatory searches for high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. When a neutrino crashes into the ice, blue light is emitted and detected by some of IceCube’s 5,160 digital optical modules (DOMs) across 86 vertical cables (strings) embedded deep within the Antarctic ice. The IceCube Upgrade, an enhancement to […]