News – Page 46

Looking for dark matter in the center of the Milky Way

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Madeleine O'Keefe

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Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in science today, and neutrinos might be able to help. IceCube and ANTARES Collaborations recently probed a known dark matter hotspot—the center of the Milky Way—by combining data from their respective neutrino telescopes. They did not find any unusual excesses of neutrinos, but they put stronger constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section averaged over the dark matter velocity. The results of the analysis are outlined in a paper submitted recently to Physical Review D. […]

Week 9 at the Pole

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

With temperatures around –50 °C (–58 °F) and winds at 15 knots (over 17 mph), there’s no getting around the frosty face look when you’re out walking around at the South Pole. […]

Summer at the South Pole: 2019-2020 season recap

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Madeleine O'Keefe

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This summer season, IceCube sent more than 30 people from 12 institutions to the Pole to work on a variety of tasks to maintain and upgrade the observatory. Despite a number of delays, the IceCube team got a lot done in a short amount of time. […]

Week 8 at the Pole

Posted on March 9, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

After the South Pole station closes for the winter, the remaining winter crew has a few short weeks to take care of any outdoor business before the sun sets and leaves them in darkness for months. […]

Week 7 at the Pole

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

A few aircraft stopped at the South Pole last week for refueling. The plane here is a Basler BT-67, flying for the Australian Antarctic Program. […]

Week 6 at the Pole

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

So that’s it—the station has officially closed, leaving 42 individuals at the Pole to take care of business during the winter months. […]

Fast radio bursts and neutrinos: Is there a connection?

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Madeleine O'Keefe

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Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are some of the most enigmatic phenomena in the universe. These millisecond-long pulses of radio waves most likely originate outside of our galaxy, but we don’t know much more than that. The IceCube Collaboration recently looked for neutrino events that coincided with 28 nonrepeating FRBs and one repeating FRB. Searching for neutrinos emitted from the same part of the sky as FRBs could provide clues to help test models that suggest particle acceleration near the FRB source. Results from this search are outlined in a paper published today in The Astrophysical Journal. […]

Week 5 at the Pole

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

Since the sun will soon be gone for quite a long stretch, you might as well try to get as much of it while you can. Last week, IceCube winterover Yuya did just that with his camera, capturing a nice time-lapse of the sun around midnight that made a little “smile” in the sky. […]

Week 4 at the Pole

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Jean DeMerit

The last of IceCube’s summer crew have departed from the South Pole, leaving IceCube winterovers John and Yuya on their own. They are well trained and ready for their adventure. […]

Taking to the skies: How one IceCuber is spending her sabbatical year

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Madeleine O'Keefe

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Katherine Rawlins, a University of Alaska Anchorage physics professor and IceCube collaborator, is spending her sabbatical year flying around the continental United States in her own Cessna 172 airplane. It turns out that IceCube played a role in helping Rawlins achieve her dream of flight. […]