IceCube Neutrino Detector
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- "IceCube" redirects here. For other uses see Ice cube (disambiguation).
The IceCube Neutrino Detector is a neutrino telescope currently under construction at the South Pole. Like its predecessor, the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA), IceCube is being constructed in deep Antarctic ice by deploying thousands of spherical optical sensors (photomultiplier tubes, or PMTs) at depths between 1,450 and 2,450 meters. The sensors are deployed on "strings" of sixty modules each, into holes melted in the ice using a hot water drill.
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[edit] Construction status
In 2005, the first IceCube string was deployed and has collected enough data to verify that the optical sensors work correctly. In the 2005-2006 Austral Summer season, an additional eight strings were deployed, making IceCube the largest neutrino telescope in the world. The plan is to deploy 12 strings in the 2006-2007 Austral Summer and then 14 strings each season after that until the detector is completed.
[edit] Experimental goals
The main goal of the experiment is to detect neutrinos in the high energy range, which spans (expressed in electron volt) from 1011 to about 1021 eV. The neutrinos are not detected themselves. Instead, the rare instance of a collision between a neutrino and an atom within the ice is used to deduce the kinematical parameters of the incoming neutrino. Current estimates predict the detection of about one thousand such events per day in the fully constructed IceCube detector. Due to the high density of the ice, almost all detected products of the initial collision will be muons. Therefore the experiment is most sensitive to the flux of muon neutrinos through its volume. Most of these neutrinos will come from "cascades" in Earth's atmosphere caused by cosmic rays, but some unknown fraction may come from astronomical sources. To distinguish these two sources statistically, the direction and angle of the incoming neutrino is estimated from its collision by-products. One can generally say, that a neutrino coming from above "down" into the detector is most likely stemming from an atmospheric shower, and a neutrino traveling "up" from below is more likely from a different source.
[edit] Possible tests
[edit] Neutrino detection
Although IceCube is expected to detect very few neutrinos, it should have very high resolution with the ones that it does find. According to an Associated Press report [3], scientists at the facility believe they have detected their first neutrinos on January 29, 2006. Over several years of operation, it could produce a flux map of the northern hemisphere similar to existing maps like that of the cosmic microwave background. Likewise, ANTARES could complete the map for the southern hemisphere.
[edit] Gamma ray origins
When protons collide with one another or with photons, the result is usually pions. Charged pions decay into neutrinos whereas neutral pions decay into gamma rays. Potentially, the neutrino flux and the gamma ray flux may coincide in certain sources such as gamma ray bursts and supernova remnants, indicating the elusive nature of their origin. Data from IceCube could be used in conjunction with cosmic ray detectors like HESS or MAGIC for this goal.
[edit] String theory
The described detection strategy, along with its South Pole position, could allow the detector to provide the first robust experimental evidence of extra dimensions predicted in string theory. According to the theory, there should exist a sterile neutrino, made from a closed string. These could leak into extra dimensions before returning, making them appear to travel faster than the speed of light. An experiment to test this may be possible in the near future. Furthermore, if high energy neutrinos create microscopic black holes (as predicted by some aspects of string theory) it would create a shower of particles; resulting in an increase of "down" neutrinos while reducing "up" neutrinos. [4]
[edit] References
- ↑ IceCube - One hole done, 79 more to go at SpaceRef.com
- ↑ IceCube: A Kilometer-Scale Neutrino Observatory, National Research Council IceCube Review Presentation by F. Halzen (PDF)
