State of the Ice Model in the IceCube Observatory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development and current status of the ice model used in the IceCube neutrino observatory, highlighting progress, remaining challenges, and future improvements with upcoming calibration devices.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the ice model in IceCube and assesses future needs for enhanced ice property understanding.

Findings

Significant progress in modeling Antarctic ice for photon propagation.

Identification of remaining issues in ice property characterization.

Upcoming calibration devices will further improve the ice model.

Abstract

IceCube is a neutrino observatory located at the South Pole that uses Antarctic ice as a medium for detection of Cherenkov photons. As such, analysis of the data relies on our understanding of the properties of ice within and around the instrumented volume. Over the years we have made significant progress in understanding the glacial ice and now have a comprehensive model that covers many of the relevant aspects of the photon propagation in it. In this report we give a historical overview of the ice description within the IceCube detector, list some of the remaining issues, and assess how much more improvement is still needed. As the IceCube Upgrade is expected to be installed in less than a year, with several new types of calibration devices aiming to further our understanding of ice, this is the perfect time to review the current state of the ice model.