Week 9 at the Pole

It was rather overcast last week. In fact, in this photo of the IceCube Lab (ICL), it’s almost hard to tell where the snowy landscape ends and the cloudy sky begins. This view of the ICL is from the vantage point of the geographic South Pole. […]

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Week 7 at the Pole

A clear sky last week showed off some faint sun dogs around a bright sun. Clear skies also made for fine flying conditions—the last flights to leave the Pole took off last week. The station is officially closed for the season. […]

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IceCube expands GRB searches to the southern sky

The IceCube Collaboration presents an update to previous GRB searches and broadens the search to the Southern Hemisphere using data through May 2015. The inspection of the southern sky increases the sensitivity to the highest-energy neutrinos, which are largely absorbed before reaching IceCube after sailing through the Earth. Researchers looked for neutrino emission in conjunction with prompt gamma-ray emission from 1172 GRBs and did not find any significant correlation with neutrinos detected in IceCube. These results set the strongest constraints yet on GRBs as primary sources of UHECRs. This study has just been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. […]

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Multiwavelength follow-up program passes the stress test of a neutrino triplet

On February 17, 2016, IceCube detected the most significant multiplet since the start of the optical follow-up program: three neutrinos appearing within 100 seconds and consistent with a point source origin. This rare neutrino coincidence has allowed further testing of the capabilities of the IceCube follow-up program, which is able to trigger observations in near real time to search for transient sources. These results have been submitted today to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. […]

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Searching for sterile neutrinos with DeepCore

The IceCube Collaboration has continued the hunt for sterile neutrinos with a search using lower energy atmospheric neutrinos. This new search looked into three years of IceCube data and again has not found any hint of a light sterile neutrino. These results have been submitted today to Physical Review D. […]

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Week 6 at the Pole

Shadows are getting longer as the first large group of summer workers heads out from the Pole. Soon enough the flights will end, leaving the winter crew alone for the dark months to come. […]

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Week 5 at the Pole

Winter is just around the corner, but the South Pole greenhouse doesn’t know about it. Fresh vegetables are growing in there. IceCube winterover Martin had some greenhouse training last week, and harvested a striking (but not very ripe looking) tomato. […]

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Week 4 at the Pole

Doesn’t it sometimes seem that folks at the South Pole are always smiling? Well, for many, getting to spend time at the Pole—extremely cold temperatures notwithstanding—is the dream of a lifetime. Still, this group shot shows summer crew about to leave for warmer climes. Maybe that’s why they’re smiling. […]

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