Introduction IceCube has performed a search for point-like sources of neutrinos using seven years of IceCube data, supplanting the previously available four year analysis. The new sample includes previously analyzed data from 2008-2012, but adds 2012-2015 data as well as contributions from track-like events starting inside of the detector, improving the sensitivity to sources in […]
Week 6 at the Pole
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?
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
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
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
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. […]
New insights into the astrophysical neutrino flux
In a paper recently submitted to Physical Review Letters, the IceCube Collaboration presents new results of an analysis to determine and characterize, with unprecedented precision and across the entire sky, the combined flux of astrophysical electron and tau neutrinos. […]
New optical telescope proves to be fit for the South Pole
For South Pole experiments like the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, all instruments—whether in the ice or on the surface—must undergo feasibility studies to make sure they can operate in the harsh Antarctic conditions. Optical instruments, especially, are subject to icing and snow accumulation. Recently, the IceCube Collaboration proved the successful operation of a new instrument, an imaging air-Cherenkov telescope, at the Pole. They outline the details of the study in a paper published today in the Journal of Instrumentation. […]
Optimizing the “eyeballs” of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Researchers in the IceCube Collaboration are always looking for ways to improve the understanding of the PMTs so they can get the highest-quality data from the DOMs. Most recently, they implemented a new method for more accurately characterizing individual PMT charge distributions, which was shown to improve PMT calibration and simulation. The method is described in a technical report submitted today to the Journal of Instrumentation. […]
Week 3 at the Pole
Last week the IceCube team completed their planned upgrades for the radio and scintillator arrays. Here we see an antenna that got deployed on the ice. […]