IceCube/DeepCore and IceCube/PINGU: Prospects for Few-GeV Scale ν Physics in the Ice

Abstract

IceCube and its low energy extension, DeepCore, have been fully deployed at the South Pole and taking data since early 2010. With a neutrino energy threshold of about 10 GeV, DeepCore endows IceCube with access to a rich variety of atmospheric neutrino oscillation physics and enhanced sensitivity for indirect searches for WIMP dark matter. A new in-fill array, dubbed PINGU, is under consideration as a way to further lower the neutrino energy threshold to a regime with the potential to measure the type of the neutrino hierarchy. We describe early results from DeepCore and simulation studies of the sensitivity of PINGU to the hierarchy.