IceCube unveils the world’s most precise search for mysterious new neutrino interactions

Neutrinos have mass. Their mass is small, extremely small in fact, but contrary to what the Standard Model of particle physics predicts, they do have mass.  A consequence of this nonstandard property is that neutrinos oscillate, which means that as they speed through matter or space, their flavor—or type—changes at a rate that depends on […]

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Improvements to deciphering the cosmic muon neutrino flux

Neutrino astronomy had a pivotal moment in 2013 when the IceCube Collaboration announced that their South Pole neutrino telescope had detected the first evidence of an astrophysical neutrino flux. This was confirmed in 2015 with an independent search in the Northern Hemisphere, also by IceCube. Since then, IceCube and other experiments have learned more about […]

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IceCube explores active galactic nuclei as sources of the astrophysical neutrino flux

In 2013, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detected very high energy particles called neutrinos that arrived at Earth from outer space. Not only did IceCube confirm the existence of astrophysical neutrinos, but they also proved that these elusive particles could be detected by their cubic-kilometer-sized telescope buried in the South Pole ice. Even though IceCube had […]

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Brightest infrared objects are likely not responsible for the astrophysical neutrino flux

By Madeleine O’Keefe and Pablo Correa In the constellation Ursa Major, there is a galaxy with the uncanny appearance of a particular dental hygiene tool. Aptly nicknamed the “Toothbrush” galaxy, Mrk 273 is actually a merger of two galaxies and an example of an ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG). It might be a source of astrophysical […]

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IceCube conducts a search for multiple flaring episodes from neutrino sources with 10 years of data

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a peculiar telescope located in the ice of the South Pole, was built to detect mysterious particles called neutrinos that come from outer space. To pinpoint their cosmic sources, IceCube researchers look for unexpected excesses of neutrinos coming from localized directions in the sky. In a paper published in 2020, IceCube […]

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IceCube analysis puts most general constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions

For decades, physicists have theorized that the current best theory describing particle physics—the “Standard Model”—was not sufficient to explain the way the universe works. In the search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), elusive particles called neutrinos might point the way. Neutrinos are sometimes called “ghost particles” because they so rarely interact with matter […]

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10 years of IceCube data now publicly available at NASA’s HEASARC archive

The IceCube Collaboration has teamed up with NASA’s High-Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) to share 10 years of IceCube data with the public. Supported by the Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and a service of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the HEASARC is the primary […]

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New machine learning method dramatically improves IceCube data processing

Machine learning has arrived at the South Pole. Well, not literally, but machine learning is now being applied to data collected at the South Pole by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an unconventional telescope made up of thousands of sensors buried in ice. IceCube’s goal is to detect tiny, nearly massless particles called neutrinos that fly […]

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