Neutrinos are tiny, weakly interacting subatomic particles that can travel astronomical distances undisturbed. As such, they can be traced back to their sources, revealing the mysteries surrounding the cosmos. High-energy neutrinos that originate from the farthest reaches beyond our galaxy are called astrophysical neutrinos and are the main subject of study for the IceCube Neutrino […]
The IceCube neutrino detector, embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice, searches for high-energy neutrinos from the farthest reaches of outer space. The pristine ice serves as a natural medium for detecting showers of secondary charged particles that result from many neutrino interaction types in the ice. Through a process called Cherenkov radiation, ultraviolet […]
Since astrophysical neutrinos of high energy were first observed in 2013, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has continued searching for their sources. So far, evidence of high-energy neutrino emission has been found from the blazar TXS 0506+056, the active galaxy NGC 1068, and most recently, the Milky Way. However, the neutrino streams, […]
Last year, the “Name that Neutrino” project was launched, which called on volunteers from the public to help classify signals from neutrinos—tiny, ghostlike particles—for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The project was hosted on Zooniverse, the largest web-based research platform that invites novices and science enthusiasts alike to contribute to ongoing research […]
As one of the most powerful classes of explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have long been considered a possible astrophysical source of neutrinos—tiny “ghostlike” particles that travel through space and large amounts of matter unhindered. These high-energy neutrinos are of particular interest to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigaton-scale neutrino detector at the […]
Still to this day, the origins of cosmic rays—the astrophysical objects that produce and accelerate cosmic rays—remain to be identified. However, high-energy neutrinos, tiny, nearly massless particles, may be the key to solving this long-standing mystery. At the South Pole, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory occupies a cubic kilometer of ice in search of high-energy neutrinos […]
A cubic-kilometer array embedded in ice, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects cosmic messengers called neutrinos that can travel through space uninhibited. Of particular interest are high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, which can be traced back to their sources. IceCube issues real-time alerts to the public within minutes of the detection of a neutrino event with a high […]
When a star dies, it succumbs to gravitational forces, collapsing into a tiny star made of densely packed neutrons or even forming a black hole that swallows everything up. As matter continues to fall into the star’s core, matter bouncing back triggers what are called core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Shortly after most collapses, a new and […]
The sources of cosmic rays—extremely energetic particles that rain down on Earth—have been a long-standing mystery in the field of astronomy. Cosmic-ray accelerators in the PeV energy range, known as PeVatrons, produce pions when the cosmic rays interact with their surroundings. These pions then decay into gamma rays and nearly massless particles called neutrinos. These […]
Our Milky Way galaxy is an awe-inspiring feature of the night sky, viewable with the naked eye as a horizon-to-horizon hazy band of stars. Now, for the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos—tiny, ghostlike astronomical messengers. In an article to be published tomorrow, June 30, […]