Status and results of the IceCube experiment

Abstract

IceCube is a 1 km 3 scale detector, deployed in the Antarctic ice, aimed at observing high-energy neutrinos from extraterrestrial sources. Currently, 79 strings of photomultipliers are installed between 1500 m and 2500 m below the ice surface. Completion is planned for January 2011, with a total of 86 strings. Neutrinos above 100 GeV are already being detected, so far identified as atmospheric neutrinos, generated in the interaction of cosmic rays with molecules in the atmosphere. One if the central goals of IceCube is the identification of sources of cosmic rays: when neutrinos are produced in proton-photon or proton-proton interactions in a cosmic ray source, the neutrinos carry unique information about the sources and source region, as they travel straight from the production region to the detection region. Cosmic rays do not provide this information, since they are deflected and scrambled by cosmic magnetic fields. In this talk, the status of the IceCube experiment will be presented. Further, the prospects of IceCube detecting extragalactic sources like supernova remnants, Active Galactic Nuclei and gamma-ray bursts will be reviewed.