Neutrino Astronomy with IceCube

TL;DR

IceCube is a large-scale neutrino telescope at the South Pole designed to detect astrophysical neutrinos, search for dark matter, and study fundamental physics, with initial results from the AMANDA predecessor and plans for enhanced capabilities.

Contribution

This paper reviews the design, status, and initial results of IceCube, highlighting its advancements over AMANDA and the new Deep Core array for lower energy detection.

Findings

Initial IceCube results from 2007 data

Detection of atmospheric neutrinos

Progress towards astrophysical neutrino detection

Abstract

IceCube is a kilometer-scale high energy neutrino telescope under construction at the South Pole, a second-generation instrument expanding the capabilities of the AMANDA telescope. The scientific portfolio of IceCube includes the detection of neutrinos from astrophysical objects such as the sources of the cosmic rays, the search for dark matter, and fundamental physics using a very large data set of atmospheric neutrinos. The design and status of IceCube are briefly reviewed, followed by a summary of results to date from AMANDA and initial IceCube results from the 2007 run, with 22 of a planned 86 strings operational. The new infill array known as Deep Core, which will extend IceCube's capabilities to energies as low as 10 GeV, is also described.