Probing Particle Physics with IceCube

TL;DR

IceCube is a large neutrino observatory that detects high-energy cosmic neutrinos, providing insights into particle physics phenomena such as neutrino oscillations, dark matter, and exotic particles, with recent results and future prospects.

Contribution

This review summarizes how IceCube can explore fundamental particle physics questions through neutrino observations, highlighting recent findings and future research directions.

Findings

Detection of cosmic neutrinos in the TeV-PeV range

Insights into neutrino oscillations and interactions

Constraints on dark matter and exotic relic particles

Abstract

The IceCube observatory located at the South Pole is a cubic-kilometre optical Cherenkov telescope primarily designed for the detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. IceCube became fully operational in 2010, after a seven-year construction phase, and reached a milestone in 2013 by the first observation of cosmic neutrinos in the TeV-PeV energy range. This observation does not only mark an important breakthrough in neutrino astronomy, but it also provides a new probe of particle physics related to neutrino production, mixing, and interaction. In this review we give an overview of the various possibilities how IceCube can address fundamental questions related to the phenomena of neutrino oscillations and interactions, the origin of dark matter, and the existence of exotic relic particles, like monopoles. We will summarize recent results and highlight future avenues.