Kilometer-scale Neutrino Detectors Research Articles

IceCube Neutrinos: From GeV to PeV

Detecting neutrinos associated with the still enigmatic sources of cosmic rays has reached a new watershed with the completion of IceCube, the first detector with sensitivity to the anticipated fluxes. In this review, we will revisit the rationale for constructing kilometer-scale neutrino detectors. We will subsequently discuss progress towards achieving the main scientific goals of IceCube in the context of data taken mostly during construction.

Neutrino astronomy: An update

Detecting neutrinos associated with the still enigmatic sources of cosmic rays has reached a new watershed with the completion of IceCube, the first detector with sensitivity to the anticipated fluxes. In this review, we will briefly revisit the rationale for constructing kilometer-scale neutrino detectors and summarize the status of the field.

Neutrino astronomy: An update

Detecting neutrinos associated with the still enigmatic sources of cosmic rays has reached a new watershed with the completion of IceCube, the first detector with sensitivity to the anticipated fluxes. In this review, we will briefly revisit the rationale for constructing kilometer-scale neutrino detectors and summarize the status of the field.

The Era of Kilometer-Scale Neutrino Detectors

Neutrino astronomy beyond the Sun was first imagined in the late 1950s; by the 1970s, it was realized that kilometer-scale neutrino detectors were required. The first such instrument, IceCube, transforms a cubic kilometer of deep and ultra-transparent Antarctic ice into a particle detector. KM3NeT, an instrument that aims to exploit several cubic kilometers of the deep Mediterranean sea as its detector medium, is in its final design stages. The scientific missions of these instruments include searching for sources of cosmic rays and for dark matter, observing Galactic supernova explosions, and studying the neutrinos themselves. Identifying the accelerators that produce Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays has been a priority mission of several generations of high-energy gamma-ray and neutrino telescopes; success has been elusive so far. Detecting the gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes associated with cosmic rays reaches a new watershed with the completion of IceCube, the first neutrino detector with sensitivity to the anticipated fluxes. In this paper, we will first revisit the rationale for constructing kilometer-scale neutrino detectors. We will subsequently recall the methods for determining the arrival direction, energy and flavor of neutrinos, and will subsequently describe the architecture of the IceCube and KM3NeT detectors.

Neutrino Astronomy: An Update

AbstractDetecting neutrinos associated with the still enigmatic sources of cosmic rays has reached a new watershed with the completion of IceCube, the first detector with sensitivity to the anticipated fluxes. In this review, we will briefly revisit the rationale for constructing kilometer-scale neutrino detectors and summarize the status of the field.

Invited Review Article: IceCube: An instrument for neutrino astronomy

Neutrino astronomy beyond the Sun was first imagined in the late 1950s; by the 1970s, it was realized that kilometer-scale neutrino detectors were required. The first such instrument, IceCube, is near completion and taking data. The IceCube project transforms 1 km(3) of deep and ultratransparent Antarctic ice into a particle detector. A total of 5160 optical sensors is embedded into a gigaton of Antarctic ice to detect the Cherenkov light emitted by secondary particles produced when neutrinos interact with nuclei in the ice. Each optical sensor is a complete data acquisition system including a phototube, digitization electronics, control and trigger systems, and light-emitting diodes for calibration. The light patterns reveal the type (flavor) of neutrino interaction and the energy and direction of the neutrino, making neutrino astronomy possible. The scientific missions of IceCube include such varied tasks as the search for sources of cosmic rays, the observation of galactic supernova explosions, the search for dark matter, and the study of the neutrinos themselves. These reach energies well beyond those produced with accelerator beams. The outline of this review is as follows: neutrino astronomy and kilometer-scale detectors, high-energy neutrino telescopes: methodologies of neutrino detection, IceCube hardware, high-energy neutrino telescopes: beyond astronomy, and future projects.

The highest energy neutrinos

Measurements of the arrival directions of cosmic rays have not revealed their sources. High energy neutrino telescopes attempt to resolve the problem by detecting neutrinos whose directions have not been scrambled by magnetic fields. The key issue is whether the neutrino flux produced in cosmic ray accelerators is detectable. It is believed that the answer is affirmative, both for the galactic and extragalactic sources, provided the detector has kilometer-scale dimensions. We revisit the case for kilometer-scale neutrino detectors in a model-independent way by focussing on the energetics of the sources. The real breakthrough though has not been on the theory but on the technology front: the considerable technical hurdles to build such detectors have been overcome.

Radiography of Earth’s Core and Mantle with Atmospheric Neutrinos

A measurement of the absorption of neutrinos with energies in excess of 10 TeV when traversing the Earth is capable of revealing its density distribution. Unfortunately, the existence of beams with sufficient luminosity for the task has been ruled out by the AMANDA South Pole neutrino telescope. In this Letter we point out that, with the advent of second-generation kilometer-scale neutrino detectors, the idea of studying the internal structure of Earth may be revived using atmospheric neutrinos instead.

Cosmic neutrinos from the sources of galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays

Although kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature produces protons and photons with energies in excess of 1020 eV and 1013 eV, respectively. The puzzle of where and how Nature accelerates the highest energy cosmic particles is unresolved almost a century after their discovery. From energetics considerations we anticipate on the order of 10–100 neutrino events per kilometer squared per year pointing back at the source(s) of both galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. In this context, we discuss the results of the AMANDA and IceCube neutrino telescopes which will deliver a kilometer-square-year of data over the next 3 years.

Astroparticle physics with high energy neutrinos: from AMANDA to IceCube

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature produces protons and photons with energies in excess of $10^{20}$\,eV and $10^{13}$\,eV, respectively. The puzzle of where and how Nature accelerates the highest energy cosmic particles is unresolved almost a century after their discovery. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. In this context, we discuss the first results of the completed AMANDA detector and the science reach of its extension, IceCube. Similar experiments are under construction in the Mediterranean. Neutrino astronomy is also expanding in new directions with efforts to detect air showers, acoustic and radio signals initiated by super-EeV neutrinos. The outline of this review is as follows: Introduction Why Kilometer-Scale Detectors? Cosmic Neutrinos Associated with the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays High Energy Neutrino Telescopes: Methodologies of Neutrino Detection High Energy Neutrino Telescopes: Status

High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of 1020 and 1013 eV, respectively. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. In this context, we discuss the first results of the completed AMANDA detector and the reach of its extension, IceCube. Similar experiments are under construction in the Mediterranean. Neutrino astronomy is also expanding in new directions with efforts to detect air showers, acoustic and radio signals initiated by super-EeV neutrinos.

High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of 1020 and 1013 eV, respectively. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. In this context, we discuss the first results of the completed AMANDA detector and the reach of its extension, IceCube. Similar experiments are under construction in the Mediterranean. Neutrino astronomy is also expanding in new directions with efforts to detect air showers, acoustic and radio signals initiated by neutrinos with energies similar to those of the highest energy cosmic rays.

High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of $10^{20}$ and $10^{13}$ eV, respectively. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. In this context, we discuss the first results of the completed AMANDA detector and the reach of its extension, IceCube. Similar experiments are under construction in the Mediterranean. Neutrino astronomy is also expanding in new directions with efforts to detect air showers, acoustic and radio signals initiated by super-EeV neutrinos.

High-energy cosmic rays from γ-ray bursts

A model is proposed for the origin of cosmic rays (CRs) from ∼10 14 eV/nucleon to the highest energies (≳10 20 eV). GRBs are assumed to inject CR protons and ions into the interstellar medium of star-forming galaxies––including the Milky Way––with a power-law spectrum extending to a maximum energy ∼ 10 20 eV. The CR spectrum near the knee is fit with CRs trapped in the Galactic halo that were accelerated and injected by an earlier Galactic GRB. These CRs diffuse in the disk and halo of the Galaxy due to gyroresonant pitch-angle scattering with MHD turbulence in the Galaxy's magnetic field. The preliminary (2001) KASCADE data through the knee of the CR spectrum are fit by a model with energy-dependent propagation of CR ions from a single Galactic GRB. Ultra-high energy CRs (UHECRs), with energies above the ankle energy at ≳3 × 10 18 eV, are assumed to propagate rectilinearly with their spectrum modified by photo-pion, photo-pair, and expansion losses. We fit the measured UHECR spectrum assuming comoving luminosity densities of GRB sources consistent with possible star formation rate histories of the Universe. For power-law CR proton injection spectra with injection number index p≳2 and low- and high-energy cutoffs, normalization to the local time- and space-averaged GRB luminosity density implies that if this model is correct, the nonthermal content in GRB blast waves is hadronically dominated by a factor ≈60–200, limited in its upper value by energetic and spectral considerations. Calculations show that 100 TeV to 100 PeV neutrinos could be detected several times per year from all GRBs with kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube, for GRB blast-wave Doppler factors δ≲200. GLAST measurements of γ-ray components and cutoffs will constrain the product of the nonthermal baryon loading and radiative efficiency, limit the Doppler factor, and test this scenario.