| 26. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Differential limit on the extremely-high-energy cosmic neutrino flux in the presence of astrophysical background from nine years of IceCube data
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 98:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report a quasidifferential upper limit on the extremely-high-energy (EHE) neutrino flux above 5 x 10(6) GeV based on an analysis of nine years of IceCube data. The astrophysical neutrino flux measured by IceCube extends to PeV energies, and it is a background flux when searching for an independent signal flux at higher energies, such as the cosmogenic neutrino signal. We have developed a new method to place robust limits on the EHE neutrino flux in the presence of an astrophysical background, whose spectrum has yet to be understood with high precision at PeV energies. A distinct event with a deposited energy above 10(6) GeV was found in the new two-year sample, in addition to the one event previously found in the seven-year EHE neutrino search. These two events represent a neutrino flux that is incompatible with predictions for a cosmogenic neutrino flux and are considered to be an astrophysical background in the current study. The obtained limit is the most stringent to date in the energy range between 5 x 10(6) and 2 x 10(10) GeV. This result constrains neutrino models predicting a three-flavor neutrino flux of E-nu(2)phi(nu e+nu mu+nu tau) similar or equal to 2 x 10(-8) GeV/cm(2) sec sr at 10(9) GeV. A significant part of the parameter space for EHE neutrino production scenarios assuming a proton-dominated composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is disfavored independently of uncertain models of the extragalactic background light which previous IceCube constraints partially relied on.
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| 27. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations at 6-56 GeV with IceCube DeepCore
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 120:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a measurement of the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters using three years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The DeepCore infill array in the center of IceCube enables the detection and reconstruction of neutrinos produced by the interaction of cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere at energies as low as similar to 5 GeV. That energy threshold permits measurements of muon neutrino disappearance, over a range of baselines up to the diameter of the Earth, probing the same range of L/E-v. as long-baseline experiments but with substantially higher- energy neutrinos. This analysis uses neutrinos from the full sky with reconstructed energies from 5.6 to 56 GeV. We measure Delta m(32)(2) = 2.31(-0.13)(+0.11) x 10(-3) eV(2) and sin(2) theta(23) = 0.51(- 0.09)(+0.07), assuming normal neutrino mass ordering. These results are consistent with, and of similar precision to, those from accelerator- and reactor-based experiments.
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| 28. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of atmospheric tau neutrino appearance with IceCube DeepCore
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 99:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a measurement of atmospheric tau neutrino appearance from oscillations with three years of data from the DeepCore subarray of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. This analysis uses atmospheric neutrinos from the full sky with reconstructed energies between 5.6 and 56 GeV to search for a statistical excess of cascadelike neutrino events which are the signature of nu(tau) interactions. For CC thorn NC (CC-only) interactions, we measure the tau neutrino normalization to be 0.73(-0.24)(+0.30) (0.57(-0.30)(+0.36)) and exclude the absence of tau neutrino oscillations at a significance of 3.2 sigma (2.0 sigma) These results are consistent with, and of similar precision to, a confirmatory IceCube analysis also presented, as well as measurements performed by other experiments.
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| 29. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino interaction cross-section with IceCube using Earth absorption
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 551:7682, s. 596-600
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neutrinos interact only very weakly, so they are extremely penetrating. The theoretical neutrino-nucleon interaction cross-section, however, increases with increasing neutrino energy, and neutrinos with energies above 40 teraelectronvolts (TeV) are expected to be absorbed as they pass through the Earth. Experimentally, the cross-section has been determined only at the relatively low energies (below 0.4 TeV) that are available at neutrino beams fromaccelerators(1,2). Here we report a measurement of neutrino absorption by the Earth using a sample of 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons. The flux of high-energy neutrinos transiting long paths through the Earth is attenuated compared to a reference sample that follows shorter trajectories. Using a fit to the two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we determine the neutrino-nucleon interaction cross-section for neutrino energies 6.3-980 TeV, more than an order of magnitude higher than previous measurements. The measured cross-section is about 1.3 times the prediction of the standard model(3), consistent with the expectations for charged-and neutral-current interactions. We do not observe a large increase in the crosssection with neutrino energy, in contrast with the predictions of some theoretical models, including those invoking more compact spatial dimensions(4) or the production of leptoquarks(5). This cross-section measurement can be used to set limits on the existence of some hypothesized beyond-standard-model particles, including leptoquarks.
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| 30. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurements using the inelasticity distribution of multi-TeV neutrino interactions in IceCube
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 99:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inelasticity, the fraction of a neutrino's energy transferred to hadrons, is a quantity of interest in the study of astrophysical and atmospheric neutrino interactions at multi-TeV energies with IceCube. In this work, a sample of contained neutrino interactions in IceCube is obtained from five years of data and classified as 2650 tracks and 965 cascades. Tracks arise predominantly from charged-current nu(mu) interactions, and we demonstrate that we can reconstruct their energy and inelasticity. The inelasticity distribution is found to be consistent with the calculation of Cooper-Sarkar et al. across the energy range from similar to 1 to similar to 100 TeV. Along with cascades from neutrinos of all flavors, we also perform a fit over the energy, zenith angle, and inelasticity distribution to characterize the flux of astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos. The energy spectrum of diffuse astrophysical neutrinos is described well by a power law in both track and cascade samples, and a best-fit index gamma = 2.62 +/- 0.07 is found in the energy range from 3.5 TeV to 2.6 PeV. Limits are set on the astrophysical flavor composition and are compatible with a ratio of (1/3 : 1/3 : 1/3)(circle plus). Exploiting the distinct inelasticity distribution of nu(mu) and (nu) over bar (mu) interactions, the atmospheric nu(mu) to (nu) over bar (mu) flux ratio in the energy range from 770 GeV to 21 TeV is found to be 0.77(-0.25)(+0.44) times the calculation by Honda et al. Lastly, the inelasticity distribution is also sensitive to neutrino charged-current charm production. The data are consistent with a leading-order calculation, with zero charm production excluded at 91% confidence level. Future analyses of inelasticity distributions may probe new physics that affects neutrino interactions both in and beyond the Standard Model.
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| 31. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Neutrino emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 prior to the IceCube-170922A alert
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 361:6398, s. 147-151
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A high-energy neutrino event detected by IceCube on 22 September 2017 was coincident in direction and time with a gamma-ray flare from the blazar TXS 0506+056. Prompted by this association, we investigated 9.5 years of IceCube neutrino observations to search for excess emission at the position of the blazar. We found an excess of high-energy neutrino events, with respect to atmospheric backgrounds, at that position between September 2014 and March 2015. Allowing for time-variable flux, this constitutes 3.5 sigma evidence for neutrino emission from the direction of TXS 0506+056, independent of and prior to the 2017 flaring episode. This suggests that blazars are identifiable sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux.
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| 32. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations in the center of the Milky Way with 3 years of IceCube/DeepCore
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : SPRINGER. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a search for a neutrino signal from dark matter self-annihilations in the Milky Way using the Ice-Cube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube). In 1005 days of data we found no significant excess of neutrinos over the background of neutrinos produced in atmospheric air showers from cosmic ray interactions. We derive upper limits on the velocity averaged product of the darkmatter self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the dark matter particles . Upper limits are set for darkmatter particle candidate masses ranging from 10GeV up to 1TeV while considering annihilation through multiple channels. This work sets the most stringent limit on a neutrino signal from dark matter with mass between 10 and 100GeV, with a limit of 1.18 . 10-23 cm(3)s(-1) for 100GeV dark matter particles self-annihilating via iota(+)iota(-) t-to neutrinos (assuming the Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter halo profile).
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| 33. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for nonstandard neutrino interactions with IceCube DeepCore
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 97:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As atmospheric neutrinos propagate through the Earth, vacuumlike oscillations are modified by Standard Model neutral-and charged-current interactions with electrons. Theories beyond the Standard Model introduce heavy, TeV-scale bosons that can produce nonstandard neutrino interactions. These additional interactions may modify the Standard Model matter effect producing a measurable deviation from the prediction for atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The result described in this paper constrains nonstandard interaction parameters, building upon a previous analysis of atmospheric muon-neutrino disappearance with three years of IceCube DeepCore data. The best fit for the muon to tau flavor changing term is epsilon(mu tau) = -0.0005, with a 90% C.L. allowed range of -0.0067 < epsilon(mu tau) < 0.0081. This result is more restrictive than recent limits from other experiments for.mu t. Furthermore, our result is complementary to a recent constraint on epsilon(mu tau) using another publicly available IceCube high-energy event selection. Together, they constitute the world's best limits on nonstandard interactions in the mu - tau sector.
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| 34. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for steady point-like sources in the astrophysical muon neutrino flux with 8 years of IceCube data
- 2019
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 79:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Collaboration has observed a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux and recently found evidence for neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056. These results open a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the source or sources of most of the observed flux of astrophysical neutrinos remains uncertain. Here, a search for steady point-like neutrino sources is performed using an unbinned likelihood analysis. The method searches for a spatial accumulation of muon-neutrino events using the very high-statistics sample of about 497,000 neutrinos recorded by IceCube between 2009 and 2017. The median angular resolution is approximate to 1 degrees at 1 TeV and improves to approximate to 0.3 degrees for neutrinos with an energy of 1 PeV. Compared to previous analyses, this search is optimized for point-like neutrino emission with the same flux-characteristics as the observed astrophysical muon-neutrino flux and introduces an improved event-reconstruction and parametrization of the background. The result is an improvement in sensitivity to the muon-neutrino flux compared to the previous analysis of approximate to 35% assuming an E-2 spectrum. The sensitivity on the muon-neutrino flux is at a level of E2dN/dE=310-13s-1. No new evidence for neutrino sources is found in a full sky scan and in an a priori candidate source list that is motivated by gamma-ray observations. Furthermore, no significant excesses above background are found from populations of sub-threshold sources. The implications of the non-observation for potential source classes are discussed.
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| 35. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 117:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous nu(mu) or (nu) over bar (mu) disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3 + 1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin(2)2 theta(24) <= 0.02 at Delta m(2) similar to 0.3 eV(2) at the 90% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99% confidence level for the global best-fit value of vertical bar U-e4 vertical bar(2).
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| 36. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
The Contribution Of Fermi-2Lac Blazars To Diffuse Tev-Pev Neutrino Flux
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 835:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recent discovery of a diffuse cosmic neutrino flux extending up to PeV energies raises the question of which astrophysical sources generate this signal. Blazars are one class of extragalactic sources which may produce such high-energy neutrinos. We present a likelihood analysis searching for cumulative neutrino emission from blazars in the 2nd Fermi-LAT AGN catalog (2LAC) using IceCube neutrino data set 2009-12, which was optimized for the detection of individual sources. In contrast to those in previous searches with IceCube, the populations investigated contain up to hundreds of sources, the largest one being the entire blazar sample in the 2LAC catalog. No significant excess is observed, and upper limits for the cumulative flux from these populations are obtained. These constrain the maximum contribution of 2LAC blazars to the observed astrophysical neutrino flux to 27% or less between around 10 TeV and 2 PeV, assuming the equipartition of flavors on Earth and a single power-law spectrum with a spectral index of -2.5. We can still exclude the fact that 2LAC blazars (and their subpopulations) emit more than 50% of the observed neutrinos up to a spectral index as hard as -2.2 in the same energy range. Our result takes into account the fact that the neutrino source count distribution is unknown, and it does not assume strict proportionality of the neutrino flux to the measured 2LAC gamma-ray signal for each source. Additionally, we constrain recent models for neutrino emission by blazars.
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| 37. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
The Detection Of A Sn Iin In Optical Follow-Up Observations Of Icecube Neutrino Events
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 811:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube neutrino observatory pursues a follow-up program selecting interesting neutrino events in real-time and issuing alerts for electromagnetic follow-up observations. In 2012 March, the most significant neutrino alert during the first three years of operation was issued by IceCube. In the follow-up observations performed by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), a Type IIn supernova (SN IIn) PTF12csy was found 0.degrees 2 away from the neutrino alert direction, with an error radius of 0.degrees 54. It has a redshift of z = 0.0684, corresponding to a luminosity distance of about 300 Mpc and the Pan-STARRS1 survey shows that its explosion time was at least 158 days (in host galaxy rest frame) before the neutrino alert, so that a causal connection is unlikely. The a posteriori significance of the chance detection of both the neutrinos and the SN at any epoch is 2.2 sigma within IceCube's 2011/12 data acquisition season. Also, a complementary neutrino analysis reveals no long-term signal over the course of one year. Therefore, we consider the SN detection coincidental and the neutrinos uncorrelated to the SN. However, the SN is unusual and interesting by itself: it is luminous and energetic, bearing strong resemblance to the SN IIn 2010jl, and shows signs of interaction of the SN ejecta with a dense circumstellar medium. High-energy neutrino emission is expected in models of diffusive shock acceleration, but at a low, non-detectable level for this specific SN. In this paper, we describe the SN PTF12csy and present both the neutrino and electromagnetic data, as well as their analysis.
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| 38. |
- 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%).
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| 39. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
All-sky Search for Time-integrated Neutrino Emission from Astrophysical Sources with 7 yr of IceCube Data
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 835:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the recent detection of an astrophysical flux of high-energy neutrinos, the question of its origin has not yet fully been answered. Much of what is known about this flux comes from a small event sample of high neutrino purity, good energy resolution, but large angular uncertainties. In searches for point-like sources, on the other hand, the best performance is given by using large statistics and good angular reconstructions. Track-like muon events produced in neutrino interactions satisfy these requirements. We present here the results of searches for point-like sources with neutrinos using data acquired by the IceCube detector over 7 yr from 2008 to 2015. The discovery potential of the analysis in the northern sky is now significantly below E(nu)(2)d phi/dE(nu) = 10(-12) TeV cm(-2) s(-1), on average 38% lower than the sensitivity of the previously published analysis of 4 yr exposure. No significant clustering of neutrinos above background expectation was observed, and implications for prominent neutrino source candidates are discussed.
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| 40. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Astrophysical neutrinos and cosmic rays observed by IceCube
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Advances in Space Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0273-1177 .- 1879-1948. ; 62:10, s. 2902-2930
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The core mission of the IceCube neutrino observatory is to study the origin and propagation of cosmic rays. IceCube, with its surface component IceTop, observes multiple signatures to accomplish this mission. Most important are the astrophysical neutrinos that are produced in interactions of cosmic rays, close to their sources and in interstellar space. IceCube is the first instrument that measures the properties of this astrophysical neutrino flux and constrains its origin. In addition, the spectrum, composition, and anisotropy of the local cosmic-ray flux are obtained from measurements of atmospheric muons and showers. Here we provide an overview of recent findings from the analysis of IceCube data, and their implications to our understanding of cosmic rays.
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| 41. |
- 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.
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| 42. |
- 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.
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| 43. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Energy reconstruction methods in the IceCube neutrino telescope
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 9, s. P03009-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Accurate measurement of neutrino energies is essential to many of the scientific goals of large-volume neutrino telescopes. The fundamental observable in such detectors is the Cherenkov light produced by the transit through a medium of charged particles created in neutrino interactions. The amount of light emitted is proportional to the deposited energy, which is approximately equal to the neutrino energy for v(e) and v(mu) charged-current interactions and can be used to set a lower bound on neutrino energies and to measure neutrino spectra statistically in other channels. Here we describe methods and performance of reconstructing charged-particle energies and topologies from the observed Cherenkov light yield, including techniques to measure the energies of uncontained muon tracks, achieving average uncertainties in electromagnetic-equivalent deposited energy of similar to 15% above 10 TeV.
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| 44. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 115:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have recently provided compelling evidence for the existence of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux utilizing a dominantly Southern Hemisphere data set consisting primarily of nu(e) and nu(tau) charged-current and neutral-current ( cascade) neutrino interactions. In the analysis presented here, a data sample of approximately 35 000 muon neutrinos from the Northern sky is extracted from data taken during 659.5 days of live time recorded between May 2010 and May 2012. While this sample is composed primarily of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in Earth's atmosphere, the highest energy events are inconsistent with a hypothesis of solely terrestrial origin at 3.7 sigma significance. These neutrinos can, however, be explained by an astrophysical flux per neutrino flavor at a level of Phi(E-nu) = 9.9(-3.4)(+3.9) x 10(-19) GeV-1 cm(-2) sr(-1) s(-1) (E-nu/100 TeV)(-2), consistent with IceCube's Southern-Hemisphere-dominated result. Additionally, a fit for an astrophysical flux with an arbitrary spectral index is performed. We find a spectral index of 2.2(-0.2)(+0.2), which is also in good agreement with the Southern Hemisphere result.
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| 45. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Extending the Search for Muon Neutrinos Coincident with Gamma-Ray Bursts in IceCube Data
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 843:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an all-sky search for muon neutrinos produced during the prompt γ-ray emission of 1172 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The detection of these neutrinos would constitute evidence for ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) production in GRBs, as interactions between accelerated protons and the prompt γ-ray field would yield charged pions, which decay to neutrinos. A previously reported search for muon neutrino tracks from northern hemisphere GRBs has been extended to include three additional years of IceCube data. A search for such tracks from southern hemisphere GRBs in five years of IceCube data has been introduced to enhance our sensitivity to the highest energy neutrinos. No significant correlation between neutrino events and observed GRBs is seen in the new data. Combining this result with previous muon neutrino track searches and a search for cascade signature events from all neutrino flavors, we obtain new constraints for single-zone fireball models of GRB neutrino and UHECR production.
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| 46. |
- 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
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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.
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| 47. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Improved limits on dark matter annihilation in the Sun with the 79-string IceCube detector and implications for supersymmetry
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present an improved event-level likelihood formalism for including neutrino telescope data in global fits to new physics. We derive limits on spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering by employing the new formalism in a re-analysis of data from the 79-string IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the Sun, including explicit energy information for each event. The new analysis excludes a number of models in the weak-scale minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) for the first time. This work is accompanied by the public release of the 79-string IceCube data, as well as an associated computer code for applying the new likelihood to arbitrary dark matter models.
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| 48. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Lowering Icecube'S Energy Threshold For Point Source Searches In The Southern Sky
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 824:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observation of a point source of astrophysical neutrinos would be a "smoking gun" signature of a cosmic-ray accelerator. While IceCube has recently discovered a diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos, no localized point source has been observed. Previous IceCube searches for point sources in the southern sky were restricted by either an energy threshold above a few hundred TeV or poor neutrino angular resolution. Here we present a search for southern sky point sources with greatly improved sensitivities to neutrinos with energies below 100 TeV. By selecting charged-current nu(mu) interacting inside the detector, we reduce the atmospheric background while retaining efficiency for astrophysical neutrino-induced events reconstructed with sub-degree angular resolution. The new event sample covers three years of detector data and leads to a factor of 10 improvement in sensitivity to point sources emitting below 100 TeV in the southern sky. No statistically significant evidence of point sources was found, and upper limits are set on neutrino emission from individual sources. A posteriori analysis of the highest-energy (similar to 100 TeV) starting event in the sample found that this event alone represents a 2.8 sigma deviation from the hypothesis that the data consists only of atmospheric background.
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| 49. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of the Atmospheric nu(e) Spectrum with IceCube
- 2015
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 91:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a measurement of the atmospheric nu(e) spectrum at energies between 0.1 and 100 TeV using data from the first year of the complete IceCube detector. Atmospheric nu(e) originate mainly from the decays of kaons produced in cosmic-ray air showers. This analysis selects 1078 fully contained events in 332 days of live time, and then identifies those consistent with particle showers. A likelihood analysis with improved event selection extends our previous measurement of the conventional v(e) fluxes to higher energies. The data constrain the conventional nu(e) flux to be 1.3(-0.3)(+0.4) times a baseline prediction from a Honda's calculation, including the knee of the cosmic-ray spectrum. A fit to the kaon contribution (xi) to the neutrino flux finds a kaon component that is xi = 1.3(-0.4)(+0.5) times the baseline value. The fitted/measured prompt neutrino flux from charmed hadron decays strongly depends on the assumed astrophysical flux and shape. If the astrophysical component follows a power law, the result for the prompt flux is 0.0(-0.0)(+3.0) times a calculated flux based on the work by Enberg, Reno, and Sarcevic.
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| 50. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of the nu(mu) energy spectrum with IceCube-79
- 2017
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : SPRINGER. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IceCube is a neutrino observatory deployed in the glacial ice at the geographic South Pole. The nu(mu) energy unfolding described in this paper is based on data taken with IceCube in its 79-string configuration. A sample of muon neutrino charged-current interactions with a purity of 99.5% was selected by means of amultivariate classification process based on machine learning. The subsequent unfolding was performed using the software TRUEE. The resulting spectrum covers an E-nu-range of more than four orders of magnitude from 125 GeV to 3.2 PeV. Compared to the Honda atmospheric neutrino flux model, the energy spectrum shows an excess of more than 1.9 sigma in four adjacent bins for neutrino energies E-nu >= 177.8 TeV. The obtained spectrum is fully compatible with previous measurements of the atmospheric neutrino flux and recent IceCube measurements of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.
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