IceCube probes for quantum gravity using astrophysical neutrino flavors

Neutrinos are ghostly, nearly massless particles that can travel extraordinarily large distances unimpeded. Because of this, neutrinos act as “messengers,” harboring information about their sources. Although most detected neutrinos originate from the sun or Earth’s atmosphere, there exist highly energetic astrophysical neutrinos that originate from the farthest reaches of outer space.  In 2013, the first […]

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Newly discovered optical effect allows IceCube to deduce ice crystal properties

Every second, 100 trillion neutrinos pass through the human body. These tiny, almost massless particles travel tremendous distances through space while carrying information about their sources and are created by some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe. But neutrinos are incredibly difficult to detect, requiring a one-of-a-kind detector that can “see” these nearly […]

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Week 41 at the Pole

So, you’ve arrived at the Geographic South Pole—or have you? The sign might not help much on its own, but now that the sun is out we can see where we are from the surroundings (yes, it’s the geographic South Pole). Below is a close-up view of the current 2022 South Pole marker, which was […]

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Week 40 at the Pole

Now there’s a bright sun! And it looks like it’s shining over a body of water with choppy waves.  But that’s just an illusion, stemming from the shadows cast by a low sun over the rough icy surface at the South Pole. There’s another apparition above, where something appears to be stretching across the entire […]

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Week 39 at the Pole

Last week was another quiet week at the Pole. And it was cloudy and windy again, with the slowly rising sun mostly obscured in the sky. IceCube’s winterovers were paged a few times to go out to the IceCube Lab, so they were out and about in the cloudy, windy landscape. Above we see the […]

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Week 38 at the Pole

There’s nothing wrong with “quiet,” especially where detector operations are concerned. That’s a good thing. And last week was relatively quiet at the Pole. IceCube’s winterovers did have to trek out to the IceCube Lab anyway, though, for some hands-on work for a routine operation. On their walk, Moreno captured some nice photos of the […]

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Carlos Argüelles chosen as one of Science News’ 2022 SN 10: Scientists to Watch

IceCube collaborator and Harvard physics professor Carlos A. Argüelles-Delgado was chosen as one of Science News’ 2022 SN 10: Scientists to Watch. For the seventh year, Science News SN 10: Scientists to Watch list features 10 early- and mid-career scientists driven by their curiosity and sense of wonder and moved to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Every year, Science […]

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IceCube sets strongest limits on galaxy clusters as potential neutrino sources

At present, one of the long-standing astronomical mysteries is the origin of cosmic rays, high-energy charged particles hurtling through space at the speed of light. Upon entering the atmosphere, they interact with atoms and produce an air shower of secondary particles, including nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos. Although very little is known about high-energy […]

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