0000000000141751
AUTHOR
Marcos Santander
showing 62 related works from this author
Measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum with IceTop-73
2013
Physical review / D 88(4), 042004 (2013). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.88.042004
Search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with IceCube
2012
We present the first results in the search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with the IceCube detector, a subsurface neutrino telescope located in the South Polar ice cap containing a volume of 1 km$^{3}$. This analysis searches data taken on the partially completed detector during 2007 when roughly 0.2 km$^{3}$ of ice was instrumented. The lack of candidate events leads to an upper limit on the flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles of $\Phi_{\mathrm{90%C.L.}}\sim 3\e{-18}\fluxunits$ for $\beta\geq0.8$. This is a factor of 4 improvement over the previous best experimental flux limits up to a Lorentz boost $\gamma$ below $10^{7}$. This result is then interpreted for a wide range of mass …
The design and performance of IceCube DeepCore
2011
The IceCube neutrino observatory in operation at the South Pole, Antarctica, comprises three distinct components: a large buried array for ultrahigh energy neutrino detection, a surface air shower array, and a new buried component called DeepCore. DeepCore was designed to lower the IceCube neutrino energy threshold by over an order of magnitude, to energies as low as about 10 GeV. DeepCore is situated primarily 2100 m below the surface of the icecap at the South Pole, at the bottom center of the existing IceCube array, and began taking physics data in May 2010. Its location takes advantage of the exceptionally clear ice at those depths and allows it to use the surrounding IceCube detector a…
Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 10^18 eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory
2010
We report a measurement of the flux of cosmic rays with unprecedented precision and Statistics using the Pierre Auger Observatory Based on fluorescence observations in coincidence with at least one Surface detector we derive a spectrum for energies above 10(18) eV We also update the previously published energy spectrum obtained with the surface detector array The two spectra are combined addressing the systematic uncertainties and, in particular. the influence of the energy resolution on the spectral shape The spectrum can be described by a broken power law E-gamma with index gamma = 3 3 below the ankle which is measured at log(10)(E-ankle/eV) = 18 6 Above the ankle the spectrum is describe…
Follow-up of Astrophysical Transients in Real Time with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
2020
In multi-messenger astronomy, rapid investigation of interesting transients is imperative. As an observatory with a 4$\pi$ steradian field of view and $\sim$99\% uptime, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique facility to follow up transients, and to provide valuable insight for other observatories and inform their observing decisions. Since 2016, IceCube has been using low-latency data to rapidly respond to interesting astrophysical events reported by the multi-messenger observational community. Here, we describe the pipeline used to perform these follow up analyses and provide a summary of the 58 analyses performed as of July 2020. We find no significant signal in the first 58 analys…
Time-integrated Neutrino Source Searches with 10 years of IceCube Data
2020
Physical review letters 124(5), 051103 (1-9) (2020). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.051103
IceCube-Gen2: The Window to the Extreme Universe
2020
The observation of electromagnetic radiation from radio to $\gamma$-ray wavelengths has provided a wealth of information about the universe. However, at PeV (10$^{15}$ eV) energies and above, most of the universe is impenetrable to photons. New messengers, namely cosmic neutrinos, are needed to explore the most extreme environments of the universe where black holes, neutron stars, and stellar explosions transform gravitational energy into non-thermal cosmic rays. The discovery of cosmic neutrinos with IceCube has opened this new window on the universe. In this white paper, we present an overview of a next-generation instrument, IceCube-Gen2, which will sharpen our understanding of the proce…
Cosmic ray composition and energy spectrum from 1–30 PeV using the 40-string configuration of IceTop and IceCube
2012
Astroparticle physics 42, 15 - 32 (2013). doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2012.11.003
EV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Search Using Eight Years of Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
2020
Physical review letters 125(14), 141801 (1-11) (2020). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.141801
Observation of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data
2014
A search for high-energy neutrinos interacting within the IceCube detector between 2010 and 2012 provided the first evidence for a high-energy neutrino flux of extraterrestrial origin. Results from an analysis using the same methods with a third year (2012-2013) of data from the complete IceCube detector are consistent with the previously reported astrophysical flux in the 100 TeV - PeV range at the level of $10^{-8}\, \mathrm{GeV}\, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}\, \mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ per flavor and reject a purely atmospheric explanation for the combined 3-year data at $5.7 \sigma$. The data are consistent with expectations for equal fluxes of all three neutrino flavors and with isotrop…
First Observation of PeV-Energy Neutrinos with IceCube
2013
We report on the observation of two neutrino-induced events which have an estimated deposited energy in the IceCube detector of 1.04 $\pm$ 0.16 and 1.14 $\pm$ 0.17 PeV, respectively, the highest neutrino energies observed so far. These events are consistent with fully contained particle showers induced by neutral-current $\nu_{e,\mu,\tau}$ ($\bar\nu_{e,\mu,\tau}$) or charged-current $\nu_{e}$ ($\bar\nu_{e}$) interactions within the IceCube detector. The events were discovered in a search for ultra-high energy neutrinos using data corresponding to 615.9 days effective livetime. The expected number of atmospheric background is $0.082 \pm 0.004 \text{(stat)}^{+0.041}_{-0.057} \text{(syst)}$. T…
A search for time-dependent astrophysical neutrino emission with IceCube data from 2012 to 2017
2020
Abstract High-energy neutrinos are unique messengers of the high-energy universe, tracing the processes of cosmic ray acceleration. This paper presents analyses focusing on time-dependent neutrino point-source searches. A scan of the whole sky, making no prior assumption about source candidates, is performed, looking for a space and time clustering of high-energy neutrinos in data collected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory between 2012 and 2017. No statistically significant evidence for a time-dependent neutrino signal is found with this search during this period, as all results are consistent with the background expectation. Within this study period, the blazar 3C 279, showed strong var…
LeptonInjector and LeptonWeighter: A neutrino event generator and weighter for neutrino observatories
2021
We present a high-energy neutrino event generator, called LeptonInjector, alongside an event weighter, called LeptonWeighter. Both are designed for large-volume Cherenkov neutrino telescopes such as IceCube. The neutrino event generator allows for quick and flexible simulation of neutrino events within and around the detector volume, and implements the leading Standard Model neutrino interaction processes relevant for neutrino observatories: neutrino-nucleon deep-inelastic scattering and neutrino-electron annihilation. In this paper, we discuss the event generation algorithm, the weighting algorithm, and the main functions of the publicly available code, with examples.
Probing the origin of cosmic-rays with extremely high energy neutrinos using the IceCube Observatory
2013
We have searched for extremely high energy neutrinos using data taken with the IceCube detector between May 2010 and May 2012. Two neutrino induced particle shower events with energies around 1 PeV were observed, as reported previously. In this work, we investigate whether these events could originate from cosmogenic neutrinos produced in the interactions of ultra-high energy cosmic-rays with ambient photons while propagating through intergalactic space. Exploiting IceCube's large exposure for extremely high energy neutrinos and the lack of observed events above 100 PeV, we can rule out the corresponding models at more than 90% confidence level. The model independent quasi-differential 90% …
The Lateral Trigger Probability function for the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Showers detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory
2011
In this paper we introduce the concept of Lateral Trigger Probability (LTP) function, i.e., the probability for an Extensive Air Shower (EAS) to trigger an individual detector of a ground based array as a function of distance to the shower axis, taking into account energy, mass and direction of the primary cosmic ray. We apply this concept to the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consisting of a 1.5 km spaced grid of about 1600 water Cherenkov stations. Using Monte Carlo simulations of ultra-high energy showers the LTP functions are derived for energies in the range between 1017 and 1019 eV and zenith angles up to 65. A parametrization combining a step function with an exponenti…
First search for atmospheric and extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades with the IceCube detector
2011
We report on the first search for atmospheric and for diffuse astrophysical neutrino-induced showers (cascades) in the IceCube detector using 257 days of data collected in the year 2007-2008 with 22 strings active. A total of 14 events with energies above 16 TeV remained after event selections in the diffuse analysis, with an expected total background contribution of $8.3\pm 3.6$. At 90% confidence we set an upper limit of $E^2\Phi_{90%CL}<3.6\times10^{-7} GeV \cdot cm^{-2} \cdot s^{-1}\cdot sr^{-1} $ on the diffuse flux of neutrinos of all flavors in the energy range between 24 TeV and 6.6 PeV assuming that $\Phi \propto E^{-2}$ and that the flavor composition of the $\nu_e : \nu_\mu : \nu…
A Search for a Diffuse Flux of Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos with the IceCube 40-String Detector
2011
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a 1 km$^{3}$ detector currently taking data at the South Pole. One of the main strategies used to look for astrophysical neutrinos with IceCube is the search for a diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos from unresolved sources. A hard energy spectrum of neutrinos from isotropically distributed astrophysical sources could manifest itself as a detectable signal that may be differentiated from the atmospheric neutrino background by spectral measurement. This analysis uses data from the IceCube detector collected in its half completed configuration which operated between April 2008 and May 2009 to search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos. A to…
An absence of neutrinos associated with cosmic-ray acceleration in gamma-ray bursts
2012
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) have been proposed as a leading candidate for acceleration of ultra high-energy cosmic rays, which would be accompanied by emission of TeV neutrinos produced in proton-photon interactions during acceleration in the GRB fireball. Two analyses using data from two years of the IceCube detector produced no evidence for this neutrino emission, placing strong constraints on models of neutrino and cosmic-ray production in these sources.
Background studies for acoustic neutrino detection at the South Pole
2011
The detection of acoustic signals from ultra-high energy neutrino interactions is a promising method to measure the tiny flux of cosmogenic neutrinos expected on Earth. The energy threshold for this process depends strongly on the absolute noise level in the target material. The South Pole Acoustic Test Setup (SPATS), deployed in the upper part of four boreholes of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, has monitored the noise in Antarctic ice at the geographic South Pole for more than two years down to 500 m depth. The noise is very stable and Gaussian distributed. Lacking an in-situ calibration up to now, laboratory measurements have been used to estimate the absolute noise level in the 10 to …
Design and performance of the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope camera
2022
Journal of astronomical telescopes, instruments, and systems 8(01), 014007-1 (2022). doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.014007
Limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2009
Data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory are used to establish an upper limit on the diffuse flux of tau neutrinos in the cosmic radiation. Earth-skimming ντ may interact in the Earth's crust and produce a τ lepton by means of charged-current interactions. The τ lepton may emerge from the Earth and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a typical signature, a persistent electromagnetic component even at very large atmospheric depths. The search procedure to select events induced by τ decays against the background of normal showers induced by cosmic rays is described. The method used to compute the exposure for a detector continuously growing with time is de…
Search for Galactic PeV gamma rays with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
2013
Gamma-ray induced air showers are notable for their lack of muons, compared to hadronic showers. Hence, air shower arrays with large underground muon detectors can select a sample greatly enriched in photon showers by rejecting showers containing muons. IceCube is sensitive to muons with energies above ~500 GeV at the surface, which provides an efficient veto system for hadronic air showers with energies above 1 PeV. One year of data from the 40-string IceCube configuration was used to perform a search for point sources and a Galactic diffuse signal. No sources were found, resulting in a 90% C.L. upper limit on the ratio of gamma rays to cosmic rays of 1.2 x 10^(-3)for the flux coming from …
Searches for small-scale anisotropies from neutrino point sources with three years of IceCube data
2015
Recently, IceCube found evidence for a diffuse signal of astrophysical neutrinos in an energy range of $60\,\mathrm{TeV}$ to the $\mathrm{PeV}$-scale. The origin of those events, being a key to understanding the origin of cosmic rays, is still an unsolved question. So far, analyses have not succeeded to resolve the diffuse signal into point-like sources. Searches including a maximum-likelihood-ratio test, based on the reconstructed directions and energies of the detected down- and up-going neutrino candidates, were also performed on IceCube data leading to the exclusion of bright point sources. In this paper, we present two methods to search for faint neutrino point sources in three years o…
The IceProd framework: distributed data processing for the IceCube neutrino observatory
2015
IceCube is a one-gigaton instrument located at the geographic South Pole, designed to detect cosmic neutrinos, identify the particle nature of dark matter, and study high-energy neutrinos themselves. Simulation of the IceCube detector and processing of data require a significant amount of computational resources. This paper presents the first detailed description of IceProd, a lightweight distributed management system designed to meet these requirements. It is driven by a central database in order to manage mass production of simulations and analysis of data produced by the IceCube detector. IceProd runs as a separate layer on top of other middleware and can take advantage of a variety of c…
Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation
2021
Full list of authors: Abdalla, H.; Abe, H.; Acero, F.; Acharyya, A.; Adam, R.; Agudo, I; Aguirre-Santaella, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alfaro, J.; Alispach, C.; Aloisio, R.; Batista, R. Alves; Amati, L.; Amato, E.; Ambrosi, G.; Anguner, E. O.; Araudo, A.; Armstrong, T.; Arqueros, F.; Arrabito, L.; Asano, K.; Ascasibar, Y.; Ashley, M.; Backes, M.; Balazs, C.; Balbo, M.; Balmaverde, B.; Baquero Larriva, A.; Martins, V. Barbosa; Barkov, M.; Baroncelli, L.; de Almeida, U. Barres; Barrio, J. A.; Batista, P-, I; Becerra Gonzalez, J.; Becherini, Y.; Beck, G.; Tjus, J. Becker; Belmont, R.; Benbow, W.; Bernardini, E.; Berti, A.; Berton, M.; Bertucci, B.; Beshley, V; Bi, B.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Bissaldi, …
The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2010
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It combines a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level together with a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The fluorescence detector comprises 24 large telescopes specialized for measuring the nitrogen fluorescence caused by charged particles of cosmic ray air showers. In this paper we describe the components of the fluorescence detector including its optical system, the design of the camera, the electronics, and the systems for relative and absolute calibration. We also discuss the operation and the monitoring of the detecto…
Multiband variability studies and novel broadband SED modeling of Mrk 501 in 2009
2017
Astronomy and astrophysics 603, A31 (2017). doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629540
Observation of the cosmic-ray shadow of the Moon with IceCube
2013
We report on the observation of a significant deficit of cosmic rays from the direction of the Moon with the IceCube detector. The study of this "Moon shadow" is used to characterize the angular resolution and absolute pointing capabilities of the detector. The detection is based on data taken in two periods before the completion of the detector: between April 2008 and May 2009, when IceCube operated in a partial configuration with 40 detector strings deployed in the South Pole ice, and between May 2009 and May 2010 when the detector operated with 59 strings. Using two independent analysis methods, the Moon shadow has been observed to high significance (> 6 sigma) in both detector config…
Atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos above 1 TeV interacting in IceCube
2015
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was designed primarily to search for high-energy (TeV--PeV) neutrinos produced in distant astrophysical objects. A search for $\gtrsim 100$~TeV neutrinos interacting inside the instrumented volume has recently provided evidence for an isotropic flux of such neutrinos. At lower energies, IceCube collects large numbers of neutrinos from the weak decays of mesons in cosmic-ray air showers. Here we present the results of a search for neutrino interactions inside IceCube's instrumented volume between 1~TeV and 1~PeV in 641 days of data taken from 2010--2012, lowering the energy threshold for neutrinos from the southern sky below 10 TeV for the first time, far bel…
Search for neutrino-induced particle showers with IceCube-40
2013
We report on the search for neutrino-induced particle-showers, so-called cascades, in the IceCube-40 detector. The data for this search was collected between April 2008 and May 2009 when the first 40 IceCube strings were deployed and operational. Three complementary searches were performed, each optimized for different energy regimes. The analysis with the lowest energy threshold (2 TeV) targeted atmospheric neutrinos. A total of 67 events were found, consistent with the expectation of 41 atmospheric muons and 30 atmospheric neutrino events. The two other analyses targeted a harder, astrophysical neutrino flux. The analysis with an intermediate threshold of 25 TeV lead to the observation of…
Search for dark matter from the Galactic halo with the IceCube neutrino telescope
2011
Self-annihilating or decaying dark matter in the Galactic halo might produce high energy neutrinos detectable with neutrino telescopes. We have conducted a search for such a signal using 276 days of data from the IceCube 22-string configuration detector acquired during 2007 and 2008. The effect of halo model choice in the extracted limit is reduced by performing a search that considers the outer halo region and not the Galactic Center. We constrain any large-scale neutrino anisotropy and are able to set a limit on the dark matter self-annihilation cross section of ⟨σAv⟩≃10-22 cm3 s-1 for weakly interacting massive particle masses above 1 TeV, assuming a monochromatic neutrino line spectrum.
A Convolutional Neural Network based Cascade Reconstruction for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
2021
Continued improvements on existing reconstruction methods are vital to the success of high-energy physics experiments, such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. In IceCube, further challenges arise as the detector is situated at the geographic South Pole where computational resources are limited. However, to perform real-time analyses and to issue alerts to telescopes around the world, powerful and fast reconstruction methods are desired. Deep neural networks can be extremely powerful, and their usage is computationally inexpensive once the networks are trained. These characteristics make a deep learning-based approach an excellent candidate for the application in IceCube. A reconstruction …
Search for a Lorentz-violating sidereal signal with atmospheric neutrinos in IceCube
2010
A search for sidereal modulation in the flux of atmospheric muon neutrinos in IceCube was performed. Such a signal could be an indication of Lorentz-violating physics. Neutrino oscillation models, derivable from extensions to the Standard Model, allow for neutrino oscillations that depend on the neutrino's direction of propagation. No such direction-dependent variation was found. A discrete Fourier transform method was used to constrain the Lorentz and CPT-violating coefficients in one of these models. Due to the unique high energy reach of IceCube, it was possible to improve constraints on certain Lorentz-violating oscillations by three orders of magnitude with respect to limits set by oth…
Advanced functionality for radio analysis in the Offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2011
The advent of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) necessitates the development of a powerful framework for the analysis of radio measurements of cosmic ray air showers. As AERA performs ‘‘radio- hybrid’’ measurements of air shower radio emission in coincidence with the surface particle detectors and fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio analysis functionality had to be incorporated in the existing hybrid analysis solutions for fluorescence and surface detector data. This goal has been achieved in a natural way by extending the existing Auger Offline software framework with radio functionality. In this article, we lay out the design, highlights and features …
All-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum measured with 26 IceTop stations
2012
Astroparticle physics 44, 40 - 58 (2013). doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.01.016
Measurement of the Atmospheric ve flux in IceCube
2012
We report the first measurement of the atmospheric electron neutrino flux in the energy range between approximately 80 GeV and 6 TeV, using data recorded during the first year of operation of IceCube's DeepCore low energy extension. Techniques to identify neutrinos interacting within the DeepCore volume and veto muons originating outside the detector are demonstrated. A sample of 1029 events is observed in 281 days of data, of which 496 $\pm$ 66(stat.) $\pm$ 88(syst.) are estimated to be cascade events, including both electron neutrino and neutral current events. The rest of the sample includes residual backgrounds due to atmospheric muons and charged current interactions of atmospheric muo…
IceCube Sensitivity for Low-Energy Neutrinos from Nearby Supernovae ( Corrigendum )
2014
Keywords: neutrinos ; supernovae: general ; instrumentation: detectors ; errata ; addenda Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-198916doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117810eView record in Web of Science Record created on 2014-05-19, modified on 2017-05-12
Constraints on the extremely-high energy cosmic neutrino flux with the IceCube 2008-2009 data
2011
We report on a search for extremely-high energy neutrinos with energies greater than $10^6$ GeV using the data taken with the IceCube detector at the South Pole. The data was collected between April 2008 and May 2009 with the half completed IceCube array. The absence of signal candidate events in the sample of 333.5 days of livetime significantly improves model independent limit from previous searches and allows to place a limit on the diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos with an $E^{-2}$ spectrum in the energy range $2.0 \times 10^{6}$ $-$ $6.3 \times 10^{9}$ GeV to a level of $E^2 \phi \leq 3.6 \times 10^{-8}$ ${\rm GeV cm^{-2} sec^{-1}sr^{-1}}$.
Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4x10^19eV
2008
The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5 × 10¹⁸ eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index γ of the particle flux, J ∝ E-γ, at energies between 4 × 10¹⁸ eV and 4 × 10¹⁹ eV is 2.69 ± 0.02(stat) ± 0.06(syst), steepening to 4.2 ± 0.4(stat) ± 0.06(syst) at higher energies. The hypothesis of a single power law is rejected with a significance greater than 6 standard deviations. The data are consistent with the prediction by Greisen and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min.
Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter
2010
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, 6 x 10(19) eV. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.1 degrees from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the Veron-Cetty and Veron 12th catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating…
Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with IceCube
2013
We present the first statistically significant detection of neutrino oscillations in the high-energy regime ($>$ 20 GeV) from an analysis of IceCube Neutrino Observatory data collected in 2010-2011. This measurement is made possible by the low energy threshold of the DeepCore detector ($\sim 20$ GeV) and benefits from the use of the IceCube detector as a veto against cosmic ray-induced muon background. The oscillation signal was detected within a low-energy muon neutrino sample (20 -- 100 GeV) extracted from data collected by DeepCore. A high-energy muon neutrino sample (100 GeV -- 10 TeV) was extracted from IceCube data to constrain systematic uncertainties. Disappearance of low-energy upw…
Multi-year search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the AMANDA-II and IceCube detectors
2011
A search for an excess of muon-neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Sun has been performed with the AMANDA-II neutrino telescope using data collected in 812 days of livetime between 2001 and 2006 and 149 days of livetime collected with the AMANDA-II and the 40-string configuration of IceCube during 2008 and early 2009. No excess over the expected atmospheric neutrino background has been observed. We combine these results with the previously published IceCube limits obtained with data taken during 2007 to obtain a total livetime of 1065 days. We provide an upper limit at 90% confidence level on the annihilation rate of captured neutralinos in the Sun, as well as the corresponding …
Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 59-string configuration
2013
A search for high-energy neutrinos was performed using data collected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory from May 2009 to May 2010, when the array was running in its 59-string configuration. The data sample was optimized to contain muon neutrino induced events with a background contamination of atmospheric muons of less than 1%. These data, which are dominated by atmospheric neutrinos, are analyzed with a global likelihood fit to search for possible contributions of prompt atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos, neither of which have yet been identified. Such signals are expected to follow a harder energy spectrum than conventional atmospheric neutrinos. In addition, the zenith angle dist…
The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2010
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The ‘‘hybrid” detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data coll…
Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2009
Atmospheric parameters, such as pressure (P), temperature (T) and density (ρ ∝ P/T), affect the development of extensive air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We have studied the impact of atmospheric variations on extensive air showers by means of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The rate of events shows a ∼ 10% seasonal modulation and ∼ 2% diurnal one. We find that the observed behaviour is explained by a model including the effects associated with the variations of P and ρ. The former affects the longitudinal development of air showers while the latter influences the Molière radius and hence the lateral distribution of the shower particles. The model is val…
South Pole glacial climate reconstruction from multi-borehole laser particulate stratigraphy
2013
AbstractThe IceCube Neutrino Observatory and its prototype, AMANDA, were built in South Pole ice, using powerful hot-water drills to cleanly bore>100 holes to depths up to 2500 m. The construction of these particle physics detectors provided a unique opportunity to examine the deep ice sheet using a variety of novel techniques. We made high-resolution particulate profiles with a laser dust logger in eight of the boreholes during detector commissioning between 2004 and 2010. The South Pole laser logs are among the most clearly resolved measurements of Antarctic dust strata during the last glacial period and can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate records in exceptional detail. Here we use…
Constraints on neutrino emission from nearby galaxies using the 2MASS redshift survey and IceCube
2020
The distribution of galaxies within the local universe is characterized by anisotropic features. Observatories searching for the production sites of astrophysical neutrinos can take advantage of these features to establish directional correlations between a neutrino dataset and overdensities in the galaxy distribution in the sky. The results of two correlation searches between a seven-year time-integrated neutrino dataset from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) catalog are presented here. The first analysis searches for neutrinos produced via interactions between diffuse intergalactic Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) and the matter contained within …
Neutrinos below 100 TeV from the southern sky employing refined veto techniques to IceCube data
2020
Many Galactic sources of gamma rays, such as supernova remnants, are expected to produce neutrinos with a typical energy cutoff well below 100 TeV. For the IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, the southern sky, containing the inner part of the Galactic plane and the Galactic Center, is a particularly challenging region at these energies, because of the large background of atmospheric muons. In this paper, we present recent advancements in data selection strategies for track-like muon neutrino events with energies below 100 TeV from the southern sky. The strategies utilize the outer detector regions as veto and features of the signal pattern to reduce the background of atm…
Erratum to "Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger observatory"[Astroparticle Physics 32…
2010
The Pierre Auger Collaboration... K.B. Barber... J.A. Bellido... R.W. Clay... B.R. Dawson... V.C. Holmes... J. Sorokin... P. Wahrlich... B.J. Whelan... M.G. Winnick... et al.
IceCube Search for High-Energy Neutrino Emission from TeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae
2020
Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are the main gamma-ray emitters in the Galactic plane. They are diffuse nebulae that emit nonthermal radiation. Pulsar winds, relativistic magnetized outflows from the central star, shocked in the ambient medium produce a multiwavelength emission from the radio through gamma-rays. Although the leptonic scenario is able to explain most PWNe emission, a hadronic contribution cannot be excluded. A possible hadronic contribution to the high-energy gamma-ray emission inevitably leads to the production of neutrinos. Using 9.5 yr of all-sky IceCube data, we report results from a stacking analysis to search for neutrino emission from 35 PWNe that are high-energy gamma-ray…
Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign
2021
Full list of authors: EHT MWL Science Working Group; Algaba, J. C.; Anczarski, J.; Asada, K.; Baloković, M.; Chandra, S.; Cui, Y. -Z.; Falcone, A. D.; Giroletti, M.; Goddi, C.; Hada, K.; Haggard, D.; Jorstad, S.; Kaur, A.; Kawashima, T.; Keating, G.; Kim, J. -Y.; Kino, M.; Komossa, S.; Kravchenko, E. V.; Krichbaum, T. P.; Lee, S. -S.; Lu, R. -S.; Lucchini, M.; Markoff, S.; Neilsen, J.; Nowak, M. A.; Park, J.; Principe, G.; Ramakrishnan, V.; Reynolds, M. T.; Sasada, M.; Savchenko, S. S.; Williamson, K. E.; Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration; Akiyama, Kazunori; Alberdi, Antxon; Alef, Walter; Anantua, Richard; Azulay, Rebecca; Baczko, Anne-Kathrin; Ball, David; Barrett, John; Bintley, Dan; …
IceTop : the surface component of IceCube
2012
IceTop, the surface component of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, is an air shower array with an area of 1 km2. The detector allows a detailed exploration of the mass composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range from about 100 TeV to 1 EeV by exploiting the correlation between the shower energy measured in IceTop and the energy deposited by muons in the deep ice. In this paper we report on the technical design, construction and installation, the trigger and data acquisition systems as well as the software framework for calibration, reconstruction and simulation. Finally the first experience from commissioning and operating the detector and the performance as an …
Measurement of South Pole ice transparency with the IceCube LED calibration system
2013
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, approximately 1 km^3 in size, is now complete with 86 strings deployed in the Antarctic ice. IceCube detects the Cherenkov radiation emitted by charged particles passing through or created in the ice. To realize the full potential of the detector, the properties of light propagation in the ice in and around the detector must be well understood. This report presents a new method of fitting the model of light propagation in the ice to a data set of in-situ light source events collected with IceCube. The resulting set of derived parameters, namely the measured values of scattering and absorption coefficients vs. depth, is presented and a comparison of IceCube …
Improvement in fast particle track reconstruction with robust statistics
2014
The IceCube project has transformed one cubic kilometer of deep natural Antarctic ice into a Cherenkov detector. Muon neutrinos are detected and their direction inferred by mapping the light produced by the secondary muon track inside the volume instrumented with photomultipliers. Reconstructing the muon track from the observed light is challenging due to noise, light scattering in the ice medium, and the possibility of simultaneously having multiple muons inside the detector, resulting from the large flux of cosmic ray muons. This manuscript describes work on two problems: (1) the track reconstruction problem, in which, given a set of observations, the goal is to recover the track of a muo…
Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube
2010
A measurement of the atmospheric muon neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV was performed using a data sample of about 18,000 up-going atmospheric muon neutrino events in IceCube. Boosted decision trees were used for event selection to reject mis-reconstructed atmospheric muons and obtain a sample of up-going muon neutrino events. Background contamination in the final event sample is less than one percent. This is the first measurement of atmospheric neutrinos up to 400 TeV, and is fundamental to understanding the impact of this neutrino background on astrophysical neutrino observations with IceCube. The measured spectrum is consistent with predictions for the atmospheric muon ne…
Search for ultrahigh-energy tau neutrinos with IceCube
2012
The first dedicated search for ultrahigh-energy (UHE) tau neutrinos of astrophysical origin was performed using the IceCube detector in its 22-string configuration with an instrumented volume of roughly 0.25 km3. The search also had sensitivity to UHE electron and muon neutrinos. After application of all selection criteria to approximately 200 live-days of data, we expect a background of 0.60±0.19(stat)+0.56−0.58(syst) events and observe three events, which after inspection, emerge as being compatible with background but are kept in the final sample. Therefore, we set an upper limit on neutrinos of all flavors from UHE astrophysical sources at 90% C.L. of E2νΦ90(νx)<16.3×10−8 GeV cm−2…
Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory
2008
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth’s crust. Tau leptons from ντ charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of ντ at EeV energies. Assuming an E−2ν differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E2νdNντdEν<1.3×10−7 GeV cm−2 s−1 sr−1 in the energy range 2×1017 eV<E<2×1019 eV.
Trigger and aperture of the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2010
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive airshowers (EAS) generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy, from the identification of candidates howers at the level of a single detector, amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with energy above 3 x 1018 eV, for all zenith angles between 03 and 603, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass of the primary particl…
Determining neutrino oscillation parameters from atmospheric muon neutrino disappearance with three years of IceCube DeepCore data
2014
We present a measurement of neutrino oscillations via atmospheric muon neutrino disappearance with three years of data of the completed IceCube neutrino detector. DeepCore, a region of denser instrumentation, enables the detection and reconstruction of atmospheric muon neutrinos between 10 GeV and 100 GeV, where a strong disappearance signal is expected. The detector volume surrounding DeepCore is used as a veto region to suppress the atmospheric muon background. Neutrino events are selected where the detected Cherenkov photons of the secondary particles minimally scatter, and the neutrino energy and arrival direction are reconstructed. Both variables are used to obtain the neutrino oscilla…
IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in nearby galaxies and galaxy clusters
2013
Physical review / D 88(12), 122001 (2013). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.88.122001
Search for Dark Matter Annihilations in the Sun with the 79-String IceCube Detector
2012
We have performed a search for muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the center of the Sun with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the DeepCore sub-array is included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. The 317 days of data collected between June 2010 and May 2011 are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits are therefore set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with conversions to limits on spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-proton cross-sections for WIMP masses in the range 20 - 5000 GeV. These are the most stringent s…
Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the positions of nearby active galactic nuclei
2008
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory provide evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of the cosmic rays with the ighest-energies, which are correlated with the positions of relatively nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) [Pierre Auger Collaboration, Science 318 (2007) 938]. The correlation has maximum significance for cosmic rays with energy greater than ~6 x 1019 eV and AGN at a distance less than ~75 Mpc. We have confirmed the anisotropy at a confidence level of more than 99% through a test with parameters specified a priori, using an independent data set. The observed correlation is compatible with the hypothesis that cosmic rays with the highest-energies originate fro…