1. The IceCube Neutrino Telescope
Kyler Kuehn
Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics
The Ohio State University
Novel Searches for Dark Matter
CCAPP
November 17, 2008

2. >30 institutions, ~250 members
The IceCube Collaboration
Sweden:
Uppsala Universitet
Stockholm Universitet
Germany:
Universität Mainz
DESY-Zeuthen
Universität Dortmund
Universität Wuppertal
Humboldt Universität
MPI Heidelberg
RWTH Aachen
USA:
Bartol Research Institute, Delaware
Pennsylvania State University
UC Berkeley
UC Irvine
Clark-Atlanta University
University of Alabama
University of Maryland
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
University of Kansas
Georgia Institute of Technology
Southern University and A&M
College, Baton Rouge
University of Alaska, Anchorage
The Ohio State University
UK:
Oxford University
Netherlands:
Utrecht University
Japan:
Chiba University
Switzerland:
EPFL
Belgium:
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Universiteit Gent
Université de Mons-Hainaut
Largely US, international collaboration with a significant contribution from Europe.
New Zealand:
University of Canterbury
>30 institutions, ~250 members

3. IceCube South Pole Skiway AMANDA Amundsen-Scott Station Counting House
Drill Camp

5. IceCube
IceTop

6. The Enhanced Hot Water Drill (EHWD)
Drill camp (5 MW hot water heater)
Hose Reel
Hot water hoses (2)
IceTop Tanks
(w/ sun shield)
Drill head
Solar heated
Facilities
Drill speeds ~ 2 m/minute
~40 hours to drill a hole
~12 hours to deploy a string
Deploy: DOMs, pressure sensors, Std. Candle, dust logger, …

7. EHWD in Action

8. A New Astronomical Messenger
Cutoff determined by μG galactic B field
Cutoff determined by e+e- threshold for stellar IR photons
diffuse, GRB AGN, TD
Neutrinos open a new window onto astrophysical processes in ways which no other particle can

9. Neutrino Detection
Neutrino interacts with a nucleon and produces a lepton
Lepton emits Cherenkov light as it travels through ice (in 41° cone)
Light is detected by Digital Optical Module (DOM)  
35 cm pressure vessel surrounding a 25 cm Photomultiplier
400 ns recording time
3 channels gives a 14 bit dynamic range
1 - 2% of DOMs fail during freeze-in
15 year survival probability 96%

10. Neutrino Event Identification
Tracks
Cascades
Muon from IC40 Data
IceCube Angular Resolution < 1°
Track-Like
IceCube
AMANDA
Time Resolution (nsec) 2
5-7
Energy Resolution (log10E)
0.3 – 0.4
Field of View 2π
Cascade-Like
IceCube
AMANDA
Time Resolution (nsec) 2
5-7
Energy Resolution (log10E)
0.18
Field of View 4π

11. A Wealth of Science AGNs, GRBs: cosmic accelerators?  
Diffuse Sources  ?
Point Sources 
GZK/UHE 
Supernovae
DM: Solar WIMPs
(see subsequent talks)
CRs

12. AMANDA Datasets Year Livetime 2000 197 d 2001 193 d 2002 204 d 2003
Most published physics results are from AMANDA
Year
Livetime
2000
197 d
2001
193 d
2002
204 d
2003
213 d
2004
194 d
2005
199 d
2006
187d
Total*
3.8 years
completed 2000
completed 1997
In 2006 AMANDA was merged into IceCube.
* Not including AMANDA B-10 ( )

13. IceCube Datasets + + + #Strings Year Run Length CR  Rate  rate IC1
2005
164 days
5 Hz
~0.01/day
IC9
2006
137 days
80 Hz
~ 1.5/day
IC22
2007
319 days
550 Hz
~ 20/day
IC40
2008
~ 1year
1400 Hz
IC80
2011
10 years
1650 Hz
~ 200/day
IC1 +
IC9 +
IC22 +
IC40

14. Cosmic Ray Flux Measurement
IceCube can measure the “background” cosmic ray μ flux
Allows evaluation of detector simulation as well as
Cosmic ray flux and composition around the knee
Prompt contribution to muon flux from charm production
Atm. 
Atm. 
Cosmic Ray
Astrophysical 

15. IC9 Diffuse Analysis
Search for excess of unresolved neutrinos from astrophysical sources
Use energy based variables (NCh) to separate astrophysical  from atmospheric 
E-2
E-3.7
Preliminary sensitivity: E-2 dN/dE < 1.4 x 10-7 GeV/cm2/s/sr
Roughly comparable to limit from AMANDA combined 4-year limit
Most stringent AMANDA limits:
≤ 106 GeV - E-2 dN/dE < 9 x 10-8 [Ap.J 675, 1014, (2008)]
> 106 GeV - E-2 dN/dE < 7.4 x 10-8 [Phys. Rev. D 76, (2007)]

16. Point Source Search
Search for excess of astrophysical neutrinos from a common direction over the background of atmospheric neutrinos from the Northern hemisphere
Detector
(Years)
Energy
(TeV)
Live Time
(days)
AMANDA B-10
( )
623
AMANDA-II
( )
1001
( )
1387
IceCube 22
(2007)
270
IceCube 22 + AMANDA
1657*
Atm. 
Atm. 
* Livetime varies for specific scenarios

17. IceCube Point Source Searches
26 a priori source locations
60% of random datasets had a sigma higher than 3.35 - no excess seen
C. Finley et al. arXiv: [astro-ph] p
•  Unbinned likelihood
+ energy information
•  Hottest spot at
r.a.153º, dec.11º
•  p‐value (pre-trials):
7×10‐7 (4.8σ)
•  p‐value (post-trials)
1.34% (2.2σ)
•  Consistent with
background fluctuation
IC22

18. AMANDA ν IceCube CGRO γ, ν
IPN Satellites
(Fermi, Swift, HETE, ...)
γ, ν
GRB timing/localization information
from correlations among satellites
A Distant GRB

19. GRBs in AMANDA & IceCube
Cascade (Trig & Roll)
Cascade (Rolling)
 search
WB03
MN06
R03b
R03a
AMANDA
 search
Over 400 GRBs in Northern Hemisphere
Cascade search
Triggered search for 73 GRBs in both hemispheres
Rolling search for
IceCube
93 SWIFT bursts during IC22
GRB080319B: brightest (optical) burst ever
~0.1  events predicted in IC22 using fireball model
~1  event predicted for equivalent burst in IC80
R03b: Supranova model
WB03: Waxman-Bahcall model
R03a: Choked Burst model
MN06: Murase Nagataki model

20. Future Plans Deep Core (see subsequent talks)
Greatly enhances IceCube sensitivity to lower energy ’s
Lower mass solar WIMPs
Atmospheric neutrinos
Six new strings
60 high QE DOMs in clear ice
First string deployed 08/09,
Remaining strings deployed 09/10
Multi-messenger astronomy
Correlations with ROTSE, AGILE, MAGIC, and LIGO
New Technologies
3 Prototype digital radio strings deployed with IceCube strings
4 Hydrophones deployed above IceCube
Dust concentration
Very
clear
ice
D. Cowen, Neutrino 2008

21. Optional Slides

22. Solar Physics
Dec. 13, 2006 Solar outburst seen by international monitoring network
IceTop Counting Rate (Hz)
IceTop is sensitive to ~GeV particles emitted by the Sun during outburst
Monitor IceTop tanks rates
Can extract energy spectrum in GeV region
Paper in preparation

23. CR Moon Shadow
Select well reconstructed tracks and look in angular bins
See a 4  deficit in the direction of the moon in 3 mos. of IC40 data
Independent method of calibrating IceCube’s angular resolution
Real Moon
Dummy Moons
Obs. Exp.
(°)

24. Flux Limits for Point Sources