High Energy Neutrino Astroparticle Physics with the IceCube at the South Pole

Final Report Abstract

The Emmy-Noether research group “High Energy Neutrino Astroparticle Physics with IceCube at the South Pole” (EN group) developed organically and coherently in the field of astroparticle physics and more specifically in the frame of the international collaboration IceCube. The focus of the group has been the extension of the IceCube neutrino telescope at neutrino energies below 10 TeV, where galactic accelerators are predicted to emit neutrinos and where atmospheric neutrinos undergo vacuum oscillation. In the original proposal, no major hardware changes have been envisioned to reach the goal of lower energies. After a first phase in which the EN group has operated AMANDA as low energy extension of IceCube, the EN group contributed significantly to a swift and successful development towards the design and installation of a new sub-component of the IceCube neutrino telescope, DeepCore. DeepCore has been a very positive evolution of the early and more modest goal expressed in the EN proposal. The new sub-detector centralized the activities of the group and requested additional funds. A successful proposal to BMBF allowed the group to contribute to the deployment of DeepCore. The EN group operated DeepCore in conjunction with IceCube developing novel veto strategies against atmospheric muons and neutrinos. We note that the atmospheric neutrino veto in particular has been transformational for IceCube and has seeded the first evidence of astrophysical neutrino recently reported by IceCube. The search for astrophysical point sources has been also a focus of the group with dedicated searches for extended region, for galactic sources and the galactic plane. The ultimate frontier has been recently achieved through the publication of the all-sky map, a high profile data analysis in IceCube, which has been lead by the EN group. Finally, DeepCore demonstrates how the operation of a neutrino telescope can be extended at lower energies. DeepCore not only provides cutting age science but is seeding a further development to even lower energies named PINGU. The goal of PINGU is to measure the neutrino mass hierarchy and pave the way to a possible proton decay search. The on-going design study is based on the experience gained in the design of DeepCore and see the previous EN group leading in its new shape as university group at TU Munich.

Publications

• Multiwavelength comparison of selected neutrino point source candidates”, 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2005)
  E. Resconi et al.
  
• “On the selection of AGN neutrino source candidates for a source stacking analysis with neutrino telescopes”, Astropart.Phys. 26 (2006)
  A. Achtenberg et al.
  
• “IceCube: Multiwavelength search for neutrinos from transient point sources”, J.Phys.Conf.Ser. 60 (2007)
  E. Resconi et al.
  
• “The combined AMANDA and IceCube Neutrino Telescope”, ICRC 2007, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, 3-11 Jul 2007
  A.Gross, C.Ha, C.Rott, M.Tluczykont, E.Resconi, T.DeYoung and G.Wikström
  
• High-energy gamma-rays and neutrinos from extra-galactic sources. Proceedings, International Workshop, Heidelberg, Germany, January 13-16, 2009
  E. Resconi, F. Aharonian
  
• “On the classification of flaring states of blazars”, Astron.Astrophys. 502 (2009) 499-504
  E. Resconi, D. Franco, A. Gross, L.Costamante, E. Flaccomio
  
• “Search for Point Sources of High Energy Neutrinos with Final Data from AMANDA-II”, Phys.Rev. D79 (2009) 062001
  R. Abbasi et al.
  
• “Vetoing atmospheric neutrinos in a high energy neutrino telescope”, Phys.Rev. D79 (2009) 043009
  Stefan Schönert, Thomas K. Gaisser, Elisa Resconi, Olaf Schulz
  
• “Calibration and Characterization of the IceCube Photomultiplier Tube”, Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A618 (2010) 139-152
  R. Abbasi et al.
  
• “Search for High Energy Neutrinos from our Galaxy with IceCube”, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Ruperto-Carola University of Heidelberg, Germany, May 2010, PhD Thesis
  Yolanda Sestayo
  
• “The Design Study of IceCube DeepCore: Characterization and Veto Studies”, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Ruperto-Carola University of Heidelberg, Germany, July 2010, PhD Thesis
  Olaf Schulz
  
• “First Step Towards A New Proton Decay Experiment In Ice”, 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2011)
  E. Resconi et al.
  
• “High-Energy Neutrino Scan of the Galactic Plane”, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Ruperto-Carola University of Heidelberg, Germany, January 2012, PhD Thesis
  Sirin Odrowski
  
• “The Design and Performance of IceCube DeepCore”, (Sep 2011) Astropart.Phys. 35 (2012) 615-624
  R. Abbasi et al.