| 1. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Background studies for acoustic neutrino detection at the South Pole
- 2012
-
In: Astroparticle physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 35:6, s. 312-324
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The detection of acoustic signals from ultra-high energy neutrino interactions is a promising method to measure the 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 10-50 kHz frequency range to be smaller than 20 mPa. Using a threshold trigger, sensors of the South Pole Acoustic Test Setup registered acoustic events in the IceCube detector volume and its vicinity. Acoustic signals from refreezing IceCube holes and from anthropogenic sources have been used to test the localization of acoustic events. An upper limit on the neutrino flux at energies E-v>10(11) GeV is derived from acoustic data taken over eight months. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
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Time-dependent searches for point sources of neutrinos with the 40-string and 22-string configurations of IceCube
- 2012
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 744:1, s. 1-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents four searches for flaring sources of neutrinos using the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, a search is performed over the entire parameter space of energy, direction, and time with sensitivity to neutrino flares lasting between 20 mu s and a year duration from astrophysical sources. Searches that integrate over time are less sensitive to flares because they are affected by a larger background of atmospheric neutrinos and muons that can be reduced by the use of additional timing information. Flaring sources considered here, such as active galactic nuclei, soft gamma-ray repeaters, and gamma-ray bursts, are promising candidate neutrino emitters. Two searches are "untriggered" in the sense that they look for any possible flare in the entire sky and from a predefined catalog of sources from which photon flares have been recorded. The other two searches are triggered by multi-wavelength information on flares from blazars and from a soft gamma-ray repeater. One triggered search uses lightcurves from Fermi-LAT which provides continuous monitoring. A second triggered search uses information where the flux states have been measured only for short periods of time near the flares. The untriggered searches use data taken by 40 strings of IceCube between 2008 April 5 and 2009 May 20. The triggered searches also use data taken by the 22-string configuration of IceCube operating between 2007 May 31 and 2008 April 5. The results from all four searches are compatible with a fluctuation of the background.
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| 3. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Time-integrated Searches for Point-like Sources of Neutrinos with the 40-string IceCube Detector
- 2011
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 732:1, s. 18-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the results of time-integrated searches for astrophysical neutrino sources in both the northern and southern skies. Data were collected using the partially completed IceCube detector in the 40-string configuration recorded between 2008 April 5 and 2009 May 20, totaling 375.5 days livetime. An unbinned maximum likelihood ratio method is used to search for astrophysical signals. The data sample contains 36,900 events: 14,121 from the northern sky, mostly muons induced by atmospheric neutrinos, and 22,779 from the southern sky, mostly high-energy atmospheric muons. The analysis includes searches for individual point sources and stacked searches for sources in a common class, sometimes including a spatial extent. While this analysis is sensitive to TeV-PeV energy neutrinos in the northern sky, it is primarily sensitive to neutrinos with energy greater than about 1 PeV in the southern sky. No evidence for a signal is found in any of the searches. Limits are set for neutrino fluxes from astrophysical sources over the entire sky and compared to predictions. The sensitivity is at least a factor of two better than previous searches (depending on declination), with 90% confidence level muon neutrino flux upper limits being between E(2)d Phi/dE similar to 2-200 x 10(-12) TeV cm(-2) s(-1) in the northern sky and between 3-700 x 10(-12) TeV cm(-2) s(-1) in the southern sky. The stacked source searches provide the best limits to specific source classes. The full IceCube detector is expected to improve the sensitivity to d Phi/dE proportional to E-2 sources by another factor of two in the first year of operation.
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| 4. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Limits on Neutrino Emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the 40 String IceCube Detector
- 2011
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 106:14, s. 141101-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IceCube has become the first neutrino telescope with a sensitivity below the TeV neutrino flux predicted from gamma-ray bursts if gamma-ray bursts are responsible for the observed cosmic-ray flux above 10(18) eV. Two separate analyses using the half-complete IceCube detector, one a dedicated search for neutrinos from p gamma interactions in the prompt phase of the gamma-ray burst fireball and the other a generic search for any neutrino emission from these sources over a wide range of energies and emission times, produced no evidence for neutrino emission, excluding prevailing models at 90% confidence.
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| 5. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Neutrino Analysis of the 2010 September Crab Nebula Flare and Time-Integrated Constraints on Neutrino Emission from the Crab Using Icecube
- 2012
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 745:1, s. 45-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the results of a search for high-energy muon neutrinos with the IceCube detector in coincidence with the Crab Nebula flare reported on 2010 September by various experiments. Due to the unusual flaring state of the otherwise steady source we performed a prompt analysis of the 79-string configuration data to search for neutrinos that might be emitted along with the observed. gamma-rays. We performed two different and complementary data selections of neutrino events in the time window of 10 days around the flare. One event selection is optimized for discovery of E-upsilon(2). neutrino spectrum typical of first-order Fermi acceleration. A similar event selection has also been applied to the 40-string data to derive the time-integrated limits to the neutrino emission from the Crab. The other event selection was optimized for discovery of neutrino spectra with softer spectral index and TeV energy cutoffs as observed for various Galactic sources in. gamma-rays. The 90% confidence level (CL) best upper limits on the Crab flux during the 10 day flare are 4.73 x 10(-11) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 for an E-upsilon(2). neutrino spectrum and 2.50 x 10(-10) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 for a softer neutrino spectra of E-upsilon(-2.7), as indicated by Fermi measurements during the flare. In this paper, we also illustrate the impact of the time-integrated limit on the Crab neutrino steady emission. The limit obtained using 375.5 days of the 40-string configuration is compared to existing models of neutrino production from the Crab and its impact on astrophysical parameters is discussed. The most optimistic predictions of some models are already rejected by the IceCube neutrino telescope with more than 90% CL.
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| 6. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Constraints on the extremely-high energy cosmic neutrino flux with the IceCube 2008-2009 data
- 2011
-
In: Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 83:9, s. 092003-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 live time significantly improves model-independent limits 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 x 10(6) - 6.3 x 10(9) GeV to a level of E-2 phi <= 3.6 x 10(-8) GeV cm(-2) sec(-1) sr(-1).
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| 7. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
First search for atmospheric and extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades with the IceCube detector
- 2011
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In: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 84:7, s. 072001-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 +/- 3.6. At 90% confidence we set an upper limit of E(2)Phi(90%CL) < 3.6 x 10(-7) GeV.cm(-2).s(-1).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 proportional to E(-2) and the flavor composition of the nu(e):nu(mu):nu(tau) flux is 1:1:1 at the Earth. The atmospheric neutrino analysis was optimized for lower energies. A total of 12 events were observed with energies above 5 TeV. The observed number of events is consistent with the expected background, within the uncertainties.
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| 8. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Observation of anisotropy in the galactic cosmic-ray arrival directions at 400 TeV with IceCube
- 2012
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 746:1, s. 33-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper we report the first observation in the Southern hemisphere of an energy dependence in the Galactic cosmic-ray anisotropy up to a few hundred TeV. This measurement was performed using cosmic-ray-induced muons recorded by the partially deployed IceCube observatory between 2009 May and 2010 May. The data include a total of 33 x 10(9) muon events with a median angular resolution of similar to 3 degrees. A sky map of the relative intensity in arrival direction over the Southern celestial sky is presented for cosmic-ray median energies of 20 and 400 TeV. The same large-scale anisotropy observed at median energies around 20 TeV is not present at 400 TeV. Instead, the high-energy sky map shows a different anisotropy structure including a deficit with a post-trial significance of -6.3 sigma. This anisotropy reveals a new feature of the Galactic cosmic-ray distribution, which must be incorporated into theories of the origin and propagation of cosmic rays.
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| 9. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Search for dark matter from the Galactic halo with the IceCube Neutrino Telescope
- 2011
-
In: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 84:2, s. 022004-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 h similar or equal to 10(-22) cm(3) s(-1) for weakly interacting massive particle masses above 1 TeV, assuming a monochromatic neutrino line spectrum.
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| 10. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Searching for soft relativistic jets in core-collapse supernovae with the IceCube optical follow-up program
- 2012
-
In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 539, s. A60-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context. Transient neutrino sources such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae (SNe) are hypothesized to emit bursts of high-energy neutrinos on a time-scale of less than or similar to 100 s. While GRB neutrinos would be produced in high relativistic jets, core-collapse SNe might host soft-relativistic jets, which become stalled in the outer layers of the progenitor star leading to an efficient production of high-energy neutrinos. Aims. To increase the sensitivity to these neutrinos and identify their sources, a low-threshold optical follow-up program for neutrino multiplets detected with the IceCube observatory has been implemented. Methods. If a neutrino multiplet, i.e. two or more neutrinos from the same direction within 100 s, is found by IceCube a trigger is sent to the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, ROTSE. The 4 ROTSE telescopes immediately start an observation program of the corresponding region of the sky in order to detect an optical counterpart to the neutrino events. Results. No statistically significant excess in the rate of neutrino multiplets has been observed and furthermore no coincidence with an optical counterpart was found. Conclusions. The search allows, for the first time, to set stringent limits on current models predicting a high-energy neutrino flux from soft relativistic hadronic jets in core-collapse SNe. We conclude that a sub-population of SNe with typical Lorentz boost factor and jet energy of 10 and 3 x 1051 erg, respectively, does not exceed 4.2% at 90% confidence.
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| 11. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
The design and performance of IceCube DeepCore
- 2012
-
In: Astroparticle physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 35:10, s. 615-624
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 as a highly efficient active veto against the principal background of downward-going muons produced in cosmic-ray air showers. DeepCore has a module density roughly five times higher than that of the standard IceCube array, and uses photomultiplier tubes with a new photocathode featuring a quantum efficiency about 35% higher than standard IceCube PMTs. Taken together, these features of DeepCore will increase IceCube's sensitivity to neutrinos from WIMP dark matter annihilations, atmospheric neutrino oscillations, galactic supernova neutrinos, and point sources of neutrinos in the northern and southern skies. In this paper we describe the design and initial performance of DeepCore.
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| 12. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
An absence of neutrinos associated with cosmic-ray acceleration in gamma-ray bursts
- 2012
-
In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 484:7394, s. 351-354
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Very energetic astrophysical events are required to accelerate cosmic rays to above 10(18) electronvolts. GRBs (c-ray bursts) have been proposed as possible candidate sources(1-3). In the GRB 'fireball' model, cosmic-ray acceleration should be accompanied by neutrinos produced in the decay of charged pions created in interactions between the high-energy cosmic-ray protons and gamma-rays(4). Previous searches for such neutrinos found none, but the constraints were weak because the sensitivity was at best approximately equal to the predicted flux(5-7). Here we report an upper limit on the flux of energetic neutrinos associated with GRBs that is at least a factor of 3.7 below the predictions(4,8-10). This implies either that GRBs are not the only sources of cosmic rays with energies exceeding 10(18) electronvolts or that the efficiency of neutrino production is much lower than has been predicted.
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| 13. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Constraints on high-energy neutrino emission from SN 2008D
- 2011
-
In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 527:4, s. A28-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- SN 2008D, a core collapse supernova at a distance of 27 Mpc, was serendipitously discovered by the Swift satellite through an associated X-ray flash. Core collapse supernovae have been observed in association with long gamma-ray bursts and X-ray flashes and a physical connection is widely assumed. This connection could imply that some core collapse supernovae possess mildly relativistic jets in which high-energy neutrinos are produced through proton-proton collisions. The predicted neutrino spectra would be detectable by Cherenkov neutrino detectors like IceCube. A search for a neutrino signal in temporal and spatial correlation with the observed X-ray flash of SN 2008D was conducted using data taken in 2007-2008 with 22 strings of the IceCube detector. Events were selected based on a boosted decision tree classifier trained with simulated signal and experimental background data. The classifier was optimized to the position and a "soft jet" neutrino spectrum assumed for SN 2008D. Using three search windows placed around the X-ray peak, emission time scales from 100-10 000 s were probed. No events passing the cuts were observed in agreement with the signal expectation of 0.13 events. Upper limits on the muon neutrino flux from core collapse supernovae were derived for different emission time scales and the principal model parameters were constrained. While no meaningful limits can be given in the case of an isotropic neutrino emission, the parameter space for a jetted emission can be constrained. Future analyses with the full 86 string IceCube detector could detect up to similar to 100 events for a core-collapse supernova at 10 Mpc according to the soft jet model.
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| 14. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
IceCube sensitivity for low-energy neutrinos from nearby supernovae
- 2011
-
In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 535, s. A109-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper describes the response of the IceCube neutrino telescope located at the geographic south pole to outbursts of MeV neutrinos from the core collapse of nearby massive stars. IceCube was completed in December 2010 forming a lattice of 5160 photomultiplier tubes that monitor a volume of similar to 1 km(3) in the deep Antarctic ice for particle induced photons. The telescope was designed to detect neutrinos with energies greater than 100 GeV. Owing to subfreezing ice temperatures, the photomultiplier dark noise rates are particularly low. Hence IceCube can also detect large numbers of MeV neutrinos by observing a collective rise in all photomultiplier rates on top of the dark noise. With 2 ms timing resolution, IceCube can detect subtle features in the temporal development of the supernova neutrino burst. For a supernova at the galactic center, its sensitivity matches that of a background-free megaton-scale supernova search experiment. The sensitivity decreases to 20 standard deviations at the galactic edge (30 kpc) and 6 standard deviations at the Large Magellanic Cloud (50 kpc). IceCube is sending triggers from potential supernovae to the Supernova Early Warning System. The sensitivity to neutrino properties such as the neutrino hierarchy is discussed, as well as the possibility to detect the neutronization burst, a short outbreak of nu(e)'s released by electron capture on protons soon after collapse. Tantalizing signatures, such as the formation of a quark star or a black hole as well as the characteristics of shock waves, are investigated to illustrate IceCube's capability for supernova detection.
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| 15. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 400 TeV with IceCube
- 2011
-
In: Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 83:1, s. 012001-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 misreconstructed atmospheric muons and obtain a sample of up-going muon neutrino events. Background contamination in the final event sample is less than 1%. 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 nu(mu) + (nu) over bar (mu) flux.
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| 16. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Multiyear search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the AMANDA-II and IceCube detectors
- 2012
-
In: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 85, s. 042002-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 live time between 2001 and 2006 and 149 days of live time 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 live time 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 muon flux limit at the Earth, both as functions of the neutralino mass in the range 50-5000 GeV. We also derive a limit on the neutralino-proton spin-dependent and spin-independent cross section. The limits presented here improve the previous results obtained by the collaboration between a factor of 2 and 5, as well as extending the neutralino masses probed down to 50 GeV. The spin-dependent cross section limits are the most stringent so far for neutralino masses above 200 GeV, and well below direct search results in the mass range from 50 GeV to 5 TeV.
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| 17. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Observation of anisotropy in the arrival directions of galactic cosmic rays at multiple angular scales with IceCube
- 2011
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 740:1, s. 16-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Between 2009 May and 2010 May, the IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole recorded 32 billion muons generated in air showers produced by cosmic rays with a median energy of 20 TeV. With a data set of this size, it is possible to probe the southern sky for per-mil anisotropy on all angular scales in the arrival direction distribution of cosmic rays. Applying a power spectrum analysis to the relative intensity map of the cosmic ray flux in the southern hemisphere, we show that the arrival direction distribution is not isotropic, but shows significant structure on several angular scales. In addition to previously reported large-scale structure in the form of a strong dipole and quadrupole, the data show small-scale structure on scales between 15 degrees and 30 degrees. The skymap exhibits several localized regions of significant excess and deficit in cosmic ray intensity. The relative intensity of the smaller-scale structures is about a factor of five weaker than that of the dipole and quadrupole structure. The most significant structure, an excess localized at (right ascension alpha = 122 degrees.4 and declination d = -47 degrees.4), extends over at least 20 degrees in right ascension and has a post-trials significance of 5.3 sigma. The origin of this anisotropy is still unknown.
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| 18. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
-
Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 40-string detector
- 2011
-
In: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 84:8, s. 082001-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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 total of 12 877 upward-going candidate neutrino events have been selected for this analysis. No evidence for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos was found in the data set leading to a 90% C. L. upper limit on the normalization of an E(-2) astrophysical nu(mu) flux of 8.9 x 10(-9) GeV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). The analysis is sensitive in the energy range between 35 TeV and 7 PeV. The 12 877 candidate neutrino events are consistent with atmospheric muon neutrinos measured from 332 GeV to 84 TeV and no evidence for a prompt component to the atmospheric neutrino spectrum is found.
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| 19. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
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Search for a Lorentz-violating sidereal signal with atmospheric neutrinos in IceCube
- 2010
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In: Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology. - 1550-7998. ; 82, s. 112003-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 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. Because of the unique high energy reach of IceCube, it was possible to improve constraints on certain Lorentz-violating oscillations by 3 orders of magnitude with respect to limits set by other experiments.
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| 20. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
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Searches for periodic neutrino emission from binary systems with 22 and 40 strings of IceCube
- 2012
-
In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 748:2, s. 118-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we present the results of searches for periodic neutrino emission from a catalog of binary systems. Such modulation, observed in the photon flux, would be caused by the geometry of these systems. In the analysis, the period is fixed by these photon observations, while the phase and duration of the neutrino emission are treated as free parameters to be fit with the data. If the emission occurs during similar to 20% or less of the total period, this analysis achieves better sensitivity than a time-integrated analysis. We use the IceCube data taken from 2007 May 31 to 2008 April 5 with its 22 string configuration and from 2008 April 5 to 2009 May 20 with its 40 string configuration. No evidence for neutrino emission is found, with the strongest excess occurring for Cygnus X-3 at 2.1 sigma significance after accounting for trials. Neutrino flux upper limits for both periodic and time-integrated emission are provided.
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| 21. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
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Measurement of the anisotropy of cosmic-ray arrival directions with icecube
- 2010
-
In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205. ; 718, s. L194-L198
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the first observation of an anisotropy in the arrival direction of cosmic rays with energies in the multi-TeV region in the Southern sky using data from the IceCube detector. Between 2007 June and 2008 March, the partially deployed IceCube detector was operated in a configuration with 1320 digital optical sensors distributed over 22 strings at depths between 1450 and 2450 m inside the Antarctic ice. IceCube is a neutrino detector, but the data are dominated by a large background of cosmic-ray muons. Therefore, the background data are suitable for high-statistics studies of cosmic rays in the southern sky. The data include 4.3 billion muons produced by downward-going cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere; these events were reconstructed with a median angular resolution of 3 degrees and a median energy of similar to 20 TeV. Their arrival direction distribution exhibits an anisotropy in right ascension with a first-harmonic amplitude of (6.4 +/- 0.2 stat. +/- 0.8 syst.) x 10(-4).
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| 22. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(author)
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Search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with the AMANDA-II neutrino telescope
- 2010
-
In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 69:3-4, s. 361-378
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the search for Cherenkov signatures from relativistic magnetic monopoles in data taken with the AMANDA-II detector, a neutrino telescope deployed in the Antarctic ice cap at the Geographic South Pole. The non-observation of a monopole signal in data collected during the year 2000 improves present experimental limits on the flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles: Our flux limit varies between 3.8x10(-17) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) (for monopoles moving at the vacuum speed of light) and 8.8x10(-16) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) (for monopoles moving at a speed beta=v/c=0.76, just above the Cherenkov threshold in ice). These limits apply to monopoles that are energetic enough to penetrate the Earth and enter the detector from below the horizon. The limit obtained for monopoles reaching the detector from above the horizon is less stringent by roughly an order of magnitude, due to the much larger background from down-going atmospheric muons. This looser limit is however valid for a larger class of magnetic monopoles, since the monopoles are not required to pass through the Earth.
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