The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole searches for high-energy neutrinos that are either produced in the vicinity of distant astrophysical accelerators like black holes and neutron stars (astrophysical neutrinos) or from the interaction of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere (atmospheric neutrinos). Atmospheric neutrinos arise primarily from the decay of charged mesons produced […]
Neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles that can travel extraordinarily long distances unimpeded. Because of this, neutrinos act as “messengers,” harboring information about their cosmic sources. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole studies highly energetic astrophysical neutrinos that originate from the farthest reaches of outer space. Neutrinos come in three different types or […]
Despite making up roughly 85% of all matter in the universe, the fundamental nature of dark matter (DM) still eludes scientists. Very little is known about it because it does not interact with light and is observed mainly via gravitational interactions. A possible candidate for dark matter are theoretical particles called weakly interacting massive particles […]
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice, searches for weakly interacting particles called neutrinos that are able to travel undisturbed through the cosmos. Of interest are high-energy astrophysical neutrinos that can arise from cosmic ray interactions with matter or photons in astrophysical sources. So far, high-energy neutrino emission has been […]
Despite making up roughly 85% of all matter in the universe, the fundamental nature of dark matter (DM) still eludes scientists. Thus far, no experiment has been able to determine what dark matter is made of. One way scientists are probing for DM is by looking at the production of ordinary particles when two DM […]
In 2022, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole announced evidence for high-energy neutrinos spewing from the “nearby” active galaxy NGC 1068. One of the brightest X-ray sources in the universe, NGC 1068 is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a central, supermassive black hole that actively gobbles up surrounding matter. X-rays shine brightly […]
As cosmic rays collide with particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, air showers containing atmospheric muons and neutrinos are produced. The atmospheric neutrinos are then detected by DeepCore, a denser and smaller array of sensors in the center of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. Compared to the main IceCube detector, DeepCore is sensitive […]
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice, searches for weakly interacting particles called neutrinos that are able to travel undisturbed through the cosmos. Of interest are high-energy astrophysical neutrinos that can arise from cosmic ray interactions with matter or photons in astrophysical sources. Thus far, the dominant sources of the […]
When high-energy particles called cosmic rays collide with Earth’s atmosphere, they create cascades of particles or air showers that emit faint radio signals. Because they are so faint, they are often drowned out by background signals from natural sources (the universe) and man-made sources (radio transmitters), making it difficult to discern signals originating from a […]
Neutrinos are weakly interacting particles that are able to travel unhindered through the cosmos. When a neutrino interacts with a molecule in the ice, blue light is emitted from the resulting secondary charged particles through a process called Cherenkov radiation. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole consists of an array of 5,160 optical […]