| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Very high-energy gamma-ray follow-up program using neutrino triggers from IceCube
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe and report the status of a neutrino-triggered program in IceCube that generates real-time alerts for gamma-ray follow-up observations by atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes (MAGIC and VERITAS). While IceCube is capable of monitoring the whole sky continuously, high-energy gamma-ray telescopes have restricted fields of view and in general are unlikely to be observing a potential neutrino-flaring source at the time such neutrinos are recorded. The use of neutrino-triggered alerts thus aims at increasing the availability of simultaneous multi-messenger data during potential neutrino flaring activity, which can increase the discovery potential and constrain the phenomenological interpretation of the high-energy emission of selected source classes (e. g. blazars). The requirements of a fast and stable online analysis of potential neutrino signals and its operation are presented, along with first results of the program operating between 14 March 2012 and 31 December 2015.
|
|
| 3. |
- Graff, M., et al.
(författare)
-
Genome-wide physical activity interactions in adiposity. A meta-analysis of 200,452 adults
- 2017
-
Ingår i: PLoS Genet. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404 .- 1553-7390. ; 13:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Physical activity (PA) may modify the genetic effects that give rise to increased risk of obesity. To identify adiposity loci whose effects are modified by PA, we performed genome-wide interaction meta-analyses of BMI and BMI-adjusted waist circumference and waist-hip ratio from up to 200,452 adults of European (n = 180,423) or other ancestry (n = 20,029). We standardized PA by categorizing it into a dichotomous variable where, on average, 23% of participants were categorized as inactive and 77% as physically active. While we replicate the interaction with PA for the strongest known obesity-risk locus in the FTO gene, of which the effect is attenuated by similar to 30% in physically active individuals compared to inactive individuals, we do not identify additional loci that are sensitive to PA. In additional genome-wide meta-analyses adjusting for PA and interaction with PA, we identify 11 novel adiposity loci, suggesting that accounting for PA or other environmental factors that contribute to variation in adiposity may facilitate gene discovery.
|
|
| 4. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
A Combined Maximum-Likelihood Analysis Of The High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrino Flux Measured With Icecube
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 809:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Evidence for an extraterrestrial flux of high-energy neutrinos has now been found in multiple searches with the IceCube detector. The first solid evidence was provided by a search for neutrino events with deposited energies greater than or similar to 30 TeV and interaction vertices inside the instrumented volume. Recent analyses suggest that the extraterrestrial flux extends to lower energies and is also visible with throughgoing, nu(mu)-induced tracks from the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we combine the results from six different IceCube searches for astrophysical neutrinos in a maximum-likelihood analysis. The combined event sample features high-statistics samples of shower-like and track-like events. The data are fit in up to three observables: energy, zenith angle, and event topology. Assuming the astrophysical neutrino flux to be isotropic and to consist of equal flavors at Earth, the all-flavor spectrum with neutrino energies between 25 TeV and 2.8 PeV is well described by an unbroken power law with best-fit spectral index -2.50 +/- 0.09 and a flux at 100 TeV of (6.7(-1.2)(+1.1)) x 10(-18) GeV-1 s(-1) sr(-1) cm(-2). Under the same assumptions, an unbroken power law with index -2 is disfavored with a significance of 3.8 sigma (p = 0.0066%) with respect to the best fit. This significance is reduced to 2.1 sigma (p = 1.7%) if instead we compare the best fit to a spectrum with index -2 that has an exponential cut-off at high energies. Allowing the electron-neutrino flux to deviate from the other two flavors, we find a nu(e) fraction of 0.18 +/- 0.11 at Earth. The sole production of electron neutrinos, which would be characteristic of neutron-decay-dominated sources, is rejected with a significance of 3.6 sigma ( p = 0.014%).
|
|
| 5. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
PINGU : a vision for neutrino and particle physics at the South Pole
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of Physics G. - : IOP Publishing. - 0954-3899 .- 1361-6471. ; 44:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade (PINGU) is a proposed low-energy in-fill extension to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. With detection technology modeled closely on the successful IceCube example, PINGU will provide a 6 Mton effective mass for neutrino detection with an energy threshold of a few GeV. With an unprecedented sample of over 60 000 atmospheric neutrinos per year in this energy range, PINGU will make highly competitive measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters in an energy range over an order of magnitude higher than long-baseline neutrino beam experiments. PINGU will measure the mixing parameters theta(23) and Delta m(32)(2), including the octant of theta(23) for a wide range of values, and determine the neutrino mass ordering at 3 sigma median significance within five years of operation. PINGU's high precision measurement of the rate of nu(T) appearance will provide essential tests of the unitarity of the 3 x 3 PMNS neutrino mixing matrix. PINGU will also improve the sensitivity of searches for low mass dark matter in the Sun, use neutrino tomography to directly probe the composition of the Earth's core, and improve IceCube's sensitivity to neutrinos from Galactic supernovae. Reoptimization of the PINGU design has permitted substantial reduction in both cost and logistical requirements while delivering performance nearly identical to configurations previously studied.
|
|
| 6. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79
- 2015
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 75:10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, < sAv >, for WIMP masses ranging from 30GeV up to 10TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to similar or equal to 4 . 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1), and similar or equal to 2.6 . 10(-23) cm(3) s(-1) for the nu(nu) over bar channel, respectively.
|
|
| 7. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Astroparticle physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 78, s. 1-27
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Muons produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers account for the by far dominant part of the event yield in large-volume underground particle detectors. The IceCube detector, with an instrumented volume of about a cubic kilometer, has the potential to conduct unique investigations on atmospheric muons by exploiting the large collection area and the possibility to track particles over a long distance. Through detailed reconstruction of energy deposition along the tracks, the characteristics of muon bundles can be quantified, and individual particles of exceptionally high energy identified. The data can then be used to constrain the cosmic ray primary flux and the contribution to atmospheric lepton fluxes from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons. In this paper, techniques for the extraction of physical measurements from atmospheric muon events are described and first results are presented. The multiplicity spectrum of TeV muons in cosmic ray air showers for primaries in the energy range from the knee to the ankle is derived and found to be consistent with recent results from surface detectors. The single muon energy spectrum is determined up to PeV energies and shows a clear indication for the emergence of a distinct spectral component from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons. The magnitude of the prompt flux, which should include a substantial contribution from light vector meson di-muon decays, is consistent with current theoretical predictions. The variety of measurements and high event statistics can also be exploited for the evaluation of systematic effects. In the course of this study, internal inconsistencies in the zenith angle distribution of events were found which indicate the presence of an unexplained effect outside the currently applied range of detector systematics. The underlying cause could be related to the hadronic interaction models used to describe muon production in air showers.
|
|
| 8. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Constraints on Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Sources from a Search for Neutrinos above 10 PeV with IceCube
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 117:24
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report constraints on the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) above 10(9) GeV, based on an analysis of seven years of IceCube data. This analysis efficiently selects very high-energy neutrino-induced events which have deposited energies from 5 x 10(5) GeV to above 10(11) GeV. Two neutrino-induced events with an estimated deposited energy of (2.6 +/- 0.3) x 10(6) GeV, the highest neutrino energy observed so far, and (7.7 +/- 2.0) x 10(5) GeV were detected. The atmospheric background-only hypothesis of detecting these events is rejected at 3.6 sigma. The hypothesis that the observed events are of cosmogenic origin is also rejected at > 99% CL because of the limited deposited energy and the nonobservation of events at higher energy, while their observation is consistent with an astrophysical origin. Our limits on cosmogenic neutrino fluxes disfavor the UHECR sources having a cosmological evolution stronger than the star formation rate, e.g., active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts, assuming proton-dominated UHECRs. Constraints on UHECR sources including mixed and heavy UHECR compositions are obtained for models of neutrino production within UHECR sources. Our limit disfavors a significant part of parameter space for active galactic nuclei and new-born pulsar models. These limits on the ultrahigh-energy neutrino flux models are the most stringent to date.
|
|
| 9. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days of detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth (Gamma(A) = 1.12 x 10(14) s(-1) for WIMP masses of 50 GeV annihilating into tau leptons) and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube's predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data.
|
|
| 10. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Observation And Characterization Of A Cosmic Muon Neutrino Flux From The Northern Hemisphere Using Six Years Of Icecube Data
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 833:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Collaboration has previously discovered a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux using neutrino events with interaction vertices contained within the instrumented volume of the IceCube detector. We present a complementary measurement using charged current muon neutrino events where the interaction vertex can be outside this volume. As a consequence of the large muon range the effective area is significantly larger but the field of view is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. IceCube data from 2009 through 2015 have been analyzed using a likelihood approach based on the reconstructed muon energy and zenith angle. At the highest neutrino energies between 194 TeV and 7.8 PeV a significant astrophysical contribution is observed, excluding a purely atmospheric origin of these events at 5.6 sigma significance. The data are well described by an isotropic, unbroken power-law flux with a normalization at 100 TeV neutrino energy of (0.90(-0.27)(+0.30)) x 10(-18) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) and a hard spectral index of gamma = 2.13 +/- 0.13. The observed spectrum is harder in comparison to previous IceCube analyses with lower energy thresholds which may indicate a break in the astrophysical neutrino spectrum of unknown origin. The highest-energy event observed has a reconstructed muon energy of (4.5 +/- 1.2) PeV which implies a probability of less than 0.005% for this event to be of atmospheric origin. Analyzing the arrival directions of all events with reconstructed muon energies above 200 TeV no correlation with known gamma-ray sources was found. Using the high statistics of atmospheric neutrinos we report the current best constraints on a prompt atmospheric muon neutrino flux originating from charmed meson decays which is below 1.06 in units of the flux normalization of the model in Enberg et al.
|
|
