1. |
- 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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2. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
A Search for Neutrino Emission from Fast Radio Bursts with Six Years of IceCube Data
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 857:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a search for coincidence between IceCube TeV neutrinos and fast radio bursts (FRBs). During the search period from 2010 May 31 to 2016 May 12, a total of 29 FRBs with 13 unique locations have been detected in the whole sky. An unbinned maximum likelihood method was used to search for spatial and temporal coincidence between neutrinos and FRBs in expanding time windows, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. No significant correlation was found in six years of IceCube data. Therefore, we set upper limits on neutrino fluence emitted by FRBs as a function of time window duration. We set the most stringent limit obtained to date on neutrino fluence from FRBs with an E-2 energy spectrum assumed, which is 0.0021 GeV cm(-2) per burst for emission timescales up to similar to 10(2) s from the northern hemisphere stacking search.
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3. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
A Search for Neutrino Point-source Populations in 7 yr of IceCube Data with Neutrino-count Statistics
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 893:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of a population of point sources in a data set modifies the underlying neutrino-count statistics from the Poisson distribution. This deviation can be exactly quantified using the non-Poissonian template fitting technique, and in this work we present the first application of this approach to the IceCube high-energy neutrino data set. Using this method, we search in 7 yr of IceCube data for point-source populations correlated with the disk of the Milky Way, the Fermi bubbles, the Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis dust map, or with the isotropic extragalactic sky. No evidence for such a population is found in the data using this technique, and in the absence of a signal, we establish constraints on population models with source-count distribution functions that can be described by a power law with a single break. The derived limits can be interpreted in the context of many possible source classes. In order to enhance the flexibility of the results, we publish the full posterior from our analysis, which can be used to establish limits on specific population models that would contribute to the observed IceCube neutrino flux.
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4. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore
- 2016
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 76:10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011-2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on , reaching a level of 10 cm s, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.
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5. |
- 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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6. |
- 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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7. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos above 1 TeV interacting in IceCube
- 2015
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 91:2, s. 022001-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was designed primarily to search for high-energy (TeV-PeV) neutLrinos produced in distant astrophysical objects. A search for. greater than or similar to 100 TeV neutrinos interacting inside the instrumented volume has recently provided evidence for an isotropic flux of such neutrinos. At lower energies, IceCube collects large numbers of neutrinos from the weak decays of mesons in cosmic-ray air showers. Here we present the results of a search for neutrino interactions inside IceCube's instrumented volume between 1 TeV and 1 PeV in 641 days of data taken from 2010-2012, lowering the energy threshold for neutrinos from the southern sky below 10 TeV for the first time, far below the threshold of the previous high-energy analysis. Astrophysical neutrinos remain the dominant component in the southern sky down to a deposited energy of 10 TeV. From these data we derive new constraints on the diffuse astrophysical neutrino spectrum, Phi(v) = 2.06(-0.3)(+0.4) x 10(-18) (E-v = 10(5) GeV)-2.46 +/- 0.12GeV-1 cm(-2) sr(-1) s(-1) for 25 TeV < E-v < 1.4 PeV, as well as the strongest upper limit yet on the flux of neutrinos from charmed-meson decay in the atmosphere, 1.52 times the benchmark theoretical prediction used in previous IceCube results at 90% confidence.
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8. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Combined sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering with JUNO, the IceCube Upgrade, and PINGU
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 101:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates is one of the fundamental open questions in neutrino physics. While current-generation neutrino oscillation experiments are able to produce moderate indications on this ordering, upcoming experiments of the next generation aim to provide conclusive evidence. In this paper we study the combined performance of the two future multi-purpose neutrino oscillation experiments JUNO and the IceCube Upgrade, which employ two very distinct and complementary routes toward the neutrino mass ordering. The approach pursued by the 20 kt medium-baseline reactor neutrino experiment JUNO consists of a careful investigation of the energy spectrum of oscillated (nu) over bar (e) produced by ten nuclear reactor cores. The IceCube Upgrade, on the other hand, which consists of seven additional densely instrumented strings deployed in the center of IceCube DeepCore, will observe large numbers of atmospheric neutrinos that have undergone oscillations affected by Earth matter. In a joint fit with both approaches, tension occurs between their preferred mass-squared differences Delta m(31)(2) = m(3)(2) - m(1)(2) in within the wrong mass ordering. In the case of JUNO and the IceCube Upgrade, this allows to exclude the wrong ordering at > 5 sigma on a timescale of 3-7 years-even under circumstances that are unfavorable to the experiments individual sensitivities. For PINGU, a 26-string detector array designed as a potential low-energy extension to IceCube, the inverted ordering could be excluded within 1.5 years (3 years for the normal ordering) in a joint analysis.
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9. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Computational techniques for the analysis of small signals in high-statistics neutrino oscillation experiments
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 977
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The current and upcoming generation of Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescopes - collecting unprecedented quantities of neutrino events - can be used to explore subtle effects in oscillation physics, such as (but not restricted to) the neutrino mass ordering. The sensitivity of an experiment to these effects can be estimated from Monte Carlo simulations. With the high number of events that will be collected, there is a trade-off between the computational expense of running such simulations and the inherent statistical uncertainty in the determined values. In such a scenario, it becomes impractical to produce and use adequately-sized sets of simulated events with traditional methods, such as Monte Carlo weighting. In this work we present a staged approach to the generation of expected distributions of observables in order to overcome these challenges. By combining multiple integration and smoothing techniques which address limited statistics from simulation it arrives at reliable analysis results using modest computational resources.
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10. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Constraints on Galactic Neutrino Emission with Seven Years of IceCube Data
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 849:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The origins of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos remain a mystery despite extensive searches for their sources. We present constraints from seven years of IceCube Neutrino Observatory muon data on the neutrino flux coming from the Galactic plane. This flux is expected from cosmic-ray interactions with the interstellar medium or near localized sources. Two methods were developed to test for a spatially extended flux from the entire plane, both of which are maximum likelihood fits but with different signal and background modeling techniques. We consider three templates for Galactic neutrino emission based primarily on gamma-ray observations and models that cover a wide range of possibilities. Based on these templates and in the benchmark case of an unbroken E-2.5 power-law energy spectrum, we set 90% confidence level upper limits, constraining the possible Galactic contribution to the diffuse neutrino flux to be relatively small, less than 14% of the flux reported in Aartsen et al. above 1 TeV. A stacking method is also used to test catalogs of known high-energy Galactic gamma-ray sources.
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11. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Constraints on Minute-Scale Transient Astrophysical Neutrino Sources
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 122:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-energy neutrino emission has been predicted for several short-lived astrophysical transients including gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), core-collapse supernovae with choked jets, and neutron star mergers. IceCube's optical and x-ray follow-up program searches for such transient sources by looking for two or more muon neutrino candidates in directional coincidence and arriving within 100 s. The measured rate of neutrino alerts is consistent with the expected rate of chance coincidences of atmospheric background events and no likely electromagnetic counterparts have been identified in Swift follow-up observations. Here, we calculate generic bounds on the neutrino flux of short-lived transient sources. Assuming an E-2.5 neutrino spectrum, we find that the neutrino flux of rare sources, like long gamma-ray bursts, is constrained to < 5% of the detected astrophysical flux and the energy released in neutrinos (100 GeV to 10 PeV) by a median bright GRB-like source is < 10(52.5) erg. For a harder E-2.13 neutrino spectrum up to 30% of the flux could be produced by GRBs and the allowed median source energy is < 10(52) erg. A hypothetical population of transient sources has to be more common than 10(-5) Mpc(-3) yr(-1) (5 x 10(-8) Mpc(-3) yr(-1) for the E-2.13 spectrum) to account for the complete astrophysical neutrino flux.
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12. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Constraints on neutrino emission from nearby galaxies using the 2MASS redshift survey and IceCube
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The distribution of galaxies within the local universe is characterized by anisotropic features. Observatories searching for the production sites of astrophysical neutrinos can take advantage of these features to establish directional correlations between a neutrino dataset and overdensities in the galaxy distribution in the sky. The results of two correlation searches between a seven-year time-integrated neutrino dataset from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) catalog are presented here. The first analysis searches for neutrinos produced via interactions between diffuse intergalactic Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) and the matter contained within galaxies. The second analysis searches for low-luminosity sources within the local universe, which would produce subthreshold multiplets in the IceCube dataset that directionally correlate with galaxy distribution. No significant correlations were observed in either analyses. Constraints are presented on the flux of neutrinos originating within the local universe through diffuse intergalactic UHECR interactions, as well as on the density of standard candle sources of neutrinos at low luminosities.
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13. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Design and performance of the first IceAct demonstrator at the South Pole
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1748-0221. ; 15:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we describe the first results of IceAct, a compact imaging air-Cherenkov telescope operating in coincidence with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) at the geographic South Pole. An array of IceAct telescopes (referred to as the IceAct project) is under consideration as part of the IceCube-Gen2 extension to IceCube. Surface detectors in general will be a powerful tool in IceCube-Gen2 for distinguishing astrophysical neutrinos from the dominant backgrounds of cosmic-ray induced atmospheric muons and neutrinos: the IceTop array is already in place as part of IceCube, but has a high energy threshold. Although the duty cycle will be lower for the IceAct telescopes than the present IceTop tanks, the IceAct telescopes may prove to be more effective at lowering the detection threshold for air showers. Additionally, small imaging air-Cherenkov telescopes in combination with IceTop, the deep IceCube detector or other future detector systems might improve measurements of the composition of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. In this paper we present measurements of a first 7-pixel imaging air Cherenkov telescope demonstrator, proving the capability of this technology to measure air showers at the South Pole in coincidence with IceTop and the deep IceCube detector.
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14. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Detection of a particle shower at the Glashow resonance with IceCube
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 591:7849, s. 220-224
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Glashow resonance describes the resonant formation of a W− boson during the interaction of a high-energy electron antineutrino with an electron1, peaking at an antineutrino energy of 6.3 petaelectronvolts (PeV) in the rest frame of the electron. Whereas this energy scale is out of reach for currently operating and future planned particle accelerators, natural astrophysical phenomena are expected to produce antineutrinos with energies beyond the PeV scale. Here we report the detection by the IceCube neutrino observatory of a cascade of high-energy particles (a particle shower) consistent with being created at the Glashow resonance. A shower with an energy of 6.05 ± 0.72 PeV (determined from Cherenkov radiation in the Antarctic Ice Sheet) was measured. Features consistent with the production of secondary muons in the particle shower indicate the hadronic decay of a resonant W− boson, confirm that the source is astrophysical and provide improved directional localization. The evidence of the Glashow resonance suggests the presence of electron antineutrinos in the astrophysical flux, while also providing further validation of the standard model of particle physics. Its unique signature indicates a method of distinguishing neutrinos from antineutrinos, thus providing a way to identify astronomical accelerators that produce neutrinos via hadronuclear or photohadronic interactions, with or without strong magnetic fields. As such, knowledge of both the flavour (that is, electron, muon or tau neutrinos) and charge (neutrino or antineutrino) will facilitate the advancement of neutrino astronomy.
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15. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Detection of the Temporal Variation of the Sun's Cosmic Ray Shadow with the IceCube Detector
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 872:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the observation of a deficit in the cosmic ray flux from the directions of the Moon and Sun with five years of data taken by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Between 2010 May and 2011 May the IceCube detector operated with 79 strings deployed in the glacial ice at the South Pole, and with 86 strings between 2011 May and 2015 May. A binned analysis is used to measure the relative deficit and significance of the cosmic ray shadows. Both the cosmic ray Moon and Sun shadows are detected with high statistical significance (>10σ) for each year. The results for the Moon shadow are consistent with previous analyses and verify the stability of the IceCube detector over time. This work represents the first observation of the Sun shadow with the IceCube detector. We show that the cosmic ray shadow of the Sun varies with time. These results make it possible to study cosmic ray transport near the Sun with future data from IceCube.
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16. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Search Using Eight Years of Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 125:14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The results of a 3 + 1 sterile neutrino search using eight years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory are presented. A total of 305 735 muon neutrino events are analyzed in reconstructed energy-zenith space to test for signatures of a matter-enhanced oscillation that would occur given a sterile neutrino state with a mass-squared differences between 0.01 and 100 eV(2). The best-fit point is found to be at sin(2)(2 theta(24)) = 0.10 and Delta m(41)(2) = 4.5 eV(2), which is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a p value of 8.0%.
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17. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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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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18. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector
- 2017
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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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19. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Flavor Ratio of Astrophysical Neutrinos above 35 TeV in IceCube
- 2015
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 114:17
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos above 100 TeV has been observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Here we extend this analysis to probe the astrophysical flux down to 35 TeV and analyze its flavor composition by classifying events as showers or tracks. Taking advantage of lower atmospheric backgrounds for showerlike events, we obtain a shower-biased sample containing 129 showers and 8 tracks collected in three years from 2010 to 2013. We demonstrate consistency with the (f(e) : f(mu) : f(tau))(circle plus) approximate to (1 : 1 : 1)(circle plus) flavor ratio at Earth commonly expected from the averaged oscillations of neutrinos produced by pion decay in distant astrophysical sources. Limits are placed on nonstandard flavor compositions that cannot be produced by averaged neutrino oscillations but could arise in exotic physics scenarios. A maximally tracklike composition of (0 : 1 : 0)(circle plus) is excluded at 3.3 sigma, and a purely showerlike composition of (1 : 0 : 0)(circle plus) is excluded at 2.3 sigma.
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20. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Follow-up of Astrophysical Transients in Real Time with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 910:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In multi-messenger astronomy, rapid investigation of interesting transients is imperative. As an observatory with a 4 pi steradian field of view, and similar to 99% uptime, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique facility to follow up transients, as well as to provide valuable insights for other observatories and inform their observational decisions. Since 2016, IceCube has been using low-latency data to rapidly respond to interesting astrophysical events reported by the multi-messenger observational community. Here, we describe the pipeline used to perform these followup analyses, and provide a summary of the 58 analyses performed as of July 2020. We find no significant signal in the first 58 analyses performed. The pipeline has helped inform various electromagnetic observation strategies, and has constrained neutrino emission from potential hadronic cosmic accelerators.
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21. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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IceCube-Gen2 : the window to the extreme Universe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics G. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0954-3899 .- 1361-6471. ; 48:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The observation of electromagnetic radiation from radio to gamma-ray wavelengths has provided a wealth of information about the Universe. However, at PeV (10(15) eV) energies and above, most of the Universe is impenetrable to photons. New messengers, namely cosmic neutrinos, are needed to explore the most extreme environments of the Universe where black holes, neutron stars, and stellar explosions transform gravitational energy into non-thermal cosmic rays. These energetic particles have millions of times higher energies than those produced in the most powerful particle accelerators on Earth. As neutrinos can escape from regions otherwise opaque to radiation, they allow an unique view deep into exploding stars and the vicinity of the event horizons of black holes. The discovery of cosmic neutrinos with IceCube has opened this new window on the Universe. IceCube has been successful in finding first evidence for cosmic particle acceleration in the jet of an active galactic nucleus. Yet, ultimately, its sensitivity is too limited to detect even the brightest neutrino sources with high significance, or to detect populations of less luminous sources. In this white paper, we present an overview of a next-generation instrument, IceCube-Gen2, which will sharpen our understanding of the processes and environments that govern the Universe at the highest energies. IceCube-Gen2 is designed to: (a) Resolve the high-energy neutrino sky from TeV to EeV energies (b) Investigate cosmic particle acceleration through multi-messenger observations (c) Reveal the sources and propagation of the highest energy particles in the Universe (d) Probe fundamental physics with high-energy neutrinos IceCube-Gen2 will enhance the existing IceCube detector at the South Pole. It will increase the annual rate of observed cosmic neutrinos by a factor of ten compared to IceCube, and will be able to detect sources five times fainter than its predecessor. Furthermore, through the addition of a radio array, IceCube-Gen2 will extend the energy range by several orders of magnitude compared to IceCube. Construction will take 8 years and cost about $350M. The goal is to have IceCube-Gen2 fully operational by 2033. IceCube-Gen2 will play an essential role in shaping the new era of multi-messenger astronomy, fundamentally advancing our knowledge of the high-energy Universe. This challenging mission can be fully addressed only through the combination of the information from the neutrino, electromagnetic, and gravitational wave emission of high-energy sources, in concert with the new survey instruments across the electromagnetic spectrum and gravitational wave detectors which will be available in the coming years.
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22. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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IceCube Search for Neutrinos Coincident with Compact Binary Mergers from LIGO-Virgo's First Gravitational-wave Transient Catalog
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 898:1, s. L10-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, we search for high-energy neutrino emission coincident with compact binary mergers observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) detectors during their first and second observing runs. We present results from two searches targeting emission coincident with the sky localization of each GW event within a 1000 s time window centered around the reported merger time. One search uses a model-independent unbinned maximum-likelihood analysis, which uses neutrino data from IceCube to search for pointlike neutrino sources consistent with the sky localization of GW events. The other uses the Low-Latency Algorithm for Multi-messenger Astrophysics, which incorporates astrophysical priors through a Bayesian framework and includes LIGO-Virgo detector characteristics to determine the association between the GW source and the neutrinos. No significant neutrino coincidence is seen by either search during the first two observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo detectors. We set upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino emission within the 1000 s window for each of the 11 GW events. These limits range from 0.02 to 0.7 . We also set limits on the total isotropic equivalent energy, E-iso, emitted in high-energy neutrinos by each GW event. These limits range from 1.7 x 10(51) to 1.8 x 10(55) erg. We conclude with an outlook for LIGO-Virgo observing run O3, during which both analyses are running in real time.
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23. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
In-situ calibration of the single-photoelectron charge response of the IceCube photomultiplier tubes
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1748-0221. ; 15:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe an improved in-situ calibration of the single-photoelectron charge distributions for each of the in-ice Hamamatsu Photonics R7081-02[MOD] photomultiplier tubes in the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The characterization of the individual PMT charge distributions is important for PMT calibration, data and Monte Carlo simulation agreement, and understanding the effect of hardware differences within the detector. We discuss the single photoelectron identification procedure and how we extract the single-photoelectron charge distribution using a deconvolution of the multiple-photoelectron charge distribution.
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24. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of the Atmospheric nu(e) Spectrum with IceCube
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 91:12
-
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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25. |
- 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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26. |
- 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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27. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Neutrino interferometry for high-precision tests of Lorentz symmetry with IceCube
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Nature Physics. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 14:9, s. 961-966
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lorentz symmetry is a fundamental spacetime symmetry underlying both the standard model of particle physics and general relativity. This symmetry guarantees that physical phenomena are observed to be the same by all inertial observers. However, unified theories, such as string theory, allow for violation of this symmetry by inducing new spacetime structure at the quantum gravity scale. Thus, the discovery of Lorentz symmetry violation could be the first hint of these theories in nature. Here we report the results of the most precise test of spacetime symmetry in the neutrino sector to date. We use high-energy atmospheric neutrinos observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory to search for anomalous neutrino oscillations as signals of Lorentz violation. We find no evidence for such phenomena. This allows us to constrain the size of the dimension-four operator in the standard-model extension for Lorentz violation to the 10(-28) level and to set limits on higher-dimensional operators in this framework. These are among the most stringent limits on Lorentz violation set by any physical experiment.
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28. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Neutrinos below 100 TeV from the southern sky employing refined veto techniques to IceCube data
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astroparticle physics. - : ELSEVIER. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 116
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many Galactic sources of gamma rays, such as supernova remnants, are expected to produce neutrinos with a typical energy cutoff well below 100 TeV. For the IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, the southern sky, containing the inner part of the Galactic plane and the Galactic Center, is a particularly challenging region at these energies, because of the large background of atmospheric muons. In this paper, we present recent advancements in data selection strategies for track-like muon neutrino events with energies below 100 TeV from the southern sky. The strategies utilize the outer detector regions as veto and features of the signal pattern to reduce the background of atmospheric muons to a level which, for the first time, allows IceCube searching for point-like sources of neutrinos in the southern sky at energies between 100 GeV and several TeV in the muon neutrino charged current channel. No significant clustering of neutrinos above background expectation was observed in four years of data recorded with the completed IceCube detector. Upper limits on the neutrino flux for a number of spectral hypotheses are reported for a list of astrophysical objects in the southern hemisphere.
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29. |
- 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.
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30. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for annihilating dark matter in the Sun with 3 years of IceCube data
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present results from an analysis looking for darkmatter annihilation in the Sun with the IceCube neutrino telescope. Gravitationally trapped dark matter in the Sun's core can annihilate into Standard Model particles making the Sun a source of GeV neutrinos. IceCube is able to detect neutrinos with energies > 100 GeV while its low-energy infill array DeepCore extends this to >10GeV. This analysis uses data gathered in the austral winters between May 2011 and May 2014, corresponding to 532 days of livetime when the Sun, being below the horizon, is a source of up-going neutrino events, easiest to discriminate against the dominant background of atmospheric muons. The sensitivity is a factor of two to four better than previous searches due to additional statistics and improved analysis methods involving better background rejection and reconstructions. The resultant upper limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section reach down to 1.46 x 10(-5) pb for a dark matter particle of mass 500GeV annihilating exclusively into tau(+)tau(-) particles. These are currently the most stringent limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section for WIMP masses above 50GeV.
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31. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for PeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Southern Hemisphere with 5 Yr of Data from the IceCube Observatory
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 891:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The measurement of diffuse PeV gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane would provide information about the energy spectrum and propagation of Galactic cosmic rays, and the detection of a pointlike source of PeV gamma-rays would be strong evidence for a Galactic source capable of accelerating cosmic rays up to at least a few PeV. This paper presents several unbinned maximum-likelihood searches for PeV gamma-rays in the Southern Hemisphere using 5 yr of data from the IceTop air shower surface detector and the in-ice array of the IceCube Observatory. The combination of both detectors takes advantage of the low muon content and deep shower maximum of gamma-ray air showers and provides excellent sensitivity to gamma-rays between similar to 0.6 and 100 PeV. Our measurements of pointlike and diffuse Galactic emission of PeV gamma-rays are consistent with the background, so we constrain the angle-integrated diffuse gamma-ray flux from the Galactic plane at 2 PeV to 2.61 x 10(-19) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 at 90% confidence, assuming an E-3 spectrum, and we estimate 90% upper limits on pointlike emission at 2 PeV between 10(-21) and 10(-20) cm(-2) s(-1) TeV-1 for an E-2 spectrum, depending on decl. Furthermore, we exclude unbroken power-law emission up to 2 PeV for several TeV gamma-ray sources observed by the High Energy Spectroscopic System and calculate upper limits on the energy cutoffs of these sources at 90% confidence. We also find no PeV gamma-rays correlated with neutrinos from IceCube's high-energy starting event sample. These are currently the strongest constraints on PeV gamma-ray emission.
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32. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Searches for neutrinos from cosmic-ray interactions in the Sun using seven years of IceCube data
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 1475-7516. ; :2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cosmic-ray interactions with the solar atmosphere are expected to produce particle showers which in turn produce neutrinos from weak decays of mesons. These solar atmospheric neutrinos (SA nu s) have never been observed experimentally. A detection would be an important step in understanding cosmic-ray propagation in the inner solar system and the dynamics of solar magnetic fields. SA nu s also represent an irreducible background to solar dark matter searches and a detection would allow precise characterization of this background. Here, we present the first experimental search based on seven years of data collected from May 2010 to May 2017 in the austral winter with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. An unbinned likelihood analysis is performed for events reconstructed within 5 degrees of the center of the Sun. No evidence for a SA nu flux is observed. After inclusion of systematic uncertainties, we set a 90% upper limit of 1.02(-0.18)(+0.20).10(-13) GeV(-1)cm(-2)s(-1) at 1 TeV.
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33. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Searching for eV-scale sterile neutrinos with eight years of atmospheric neutrinos at the IceCube Neutrino Telescope
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 102:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report in detail on searches for eV-scale sterile neutrinos, in the context of a 3 + 1 model, using eight years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Telescope. By analyzing the reconstructed energies and zenith angles of 305,735 atmospheric nu(mu) and (nu) over bar (mu) events we construct confidence intervals in two analysis spaces: sin(2)(2 theta(24)) vs Delta m(41)(2) under the conservative assumption theta(34) = 0; and sin(2)(2 theta(24)) vs sin(2)(2 theta(34)) given sufficiently large Delta m(41)(2) that fast oscillation features are unresolvable. Detailed discussions of the event selection, systematic uncertainties, and fitting procedures are presented. No strong evidence for sterile neutrinos is found, and the best-fit likelihood is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a p value of 8% in the first analysis space and 19% in the second.
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34. |
- 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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35. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory : instrumentation and online systems
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1748-0221. ; 12
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scale high-energy neutrino detector built into the ice at the South Pole. Construction of IceCube, the largest neutrino detector built to date, was completed in 2011 and enabled the discovery of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. We describe here the design, production, and calibration of the IceCube digital optical module (DOM), the cable systems, computing hardware, and our methodology for drilling and deployment. We also describe the online triggering and data filtering systems that select candidate neutrino and cosmic ray events for analysis. Due to a rigorous pre-deployment protocol, 98.4% of the DOMs in the deep ice are operating and collecting data. IceCube routinely achieves a detector uptime of 99% by emphasizing software stability and monitoring. Detector operations have been stable since construction was completed, and the detector is expected to operate at least until the end of the next decade.
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36. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Time-Integrated Neutrino Source Searches with 10 Years of IceCube Data
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 124:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This Letter presents the results from pointlike neutrino source searches using ten years of IceCube data collected between April 6, 2008 and July 10, 2018. We evaluate the significance of an astrophysical signal from a pointlike source looking for an excess of clustered neutrino events with energies typically above similar to 1 TeV among the background of atmospheric muons and neutrinos. We perform a full-sky scan, a search within a selected source catalog, a catalog population study, and three stacked Galactic catalog searches. The most significant point in the northern hemisphere from scanning the sky is coincident with the Seyfert II galaxy NGC 1068, which was included in the source catalog search. The excess at the coordinates of NGC 1068 is inconsistent with background expectations at the level of 2.9 sigma after accounting for statistical trials from the entire catalog. The combination of this result along with excesses observed at the coordinates of three other sources, including TXS 0506 + 056, suggests that, collectively, correlations with sources in the northern catalog are inconsistent with background at 3.3 sigma significance. The southern catalog is consistent with background. These results, all based on searches for a cumulative neutrino signal integrated over the 10 years of available data, motivate further study of these and similar sources, including time-dependent analyses, multimessenger correlations, and the possibility of stronger evidence with coming upgrades to the detector.
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37. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Velocity independent constraints on spin-dependent DM-nucleon interactions from IceCube and PICO
- 2020
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Nature. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adopting the Standard Halo Model (SHM) of an isotropic Maxwellian velocity distribution for dark matter (DM) particles in the Galaxy, the most stringent current constraints on their spin-dependent scattering cross-section with nucleons come from the IceCube neutrino observatory and the PICO-60 C3F8 superheated bubble chamber experiments. The former is sensitive to high energy neutrinos from the self-annihilation of DM particles captured in the Sun, while the latter looks for nuclear recoil events from DM scattering off nucleons. Although slower DM particles are more likely to be captured by the Sun, the faster ones are more likely to be detected by PICO. Recent N-body simulations suggest significant deviations from the SHM for the smooth halo component of the DM, while observations hint at a dominant fraction of the local DM being in substructures. We use the method of Ferrer et al. (JCAP 1509: 052, 2015) to exploit the complementarity between the two approaches and derive conservative constraints on DM-nucleon scattering. Our results constrain sigma SD less than or similar to 3x10-39cm2 (6x10-38cm2) at greater than or similar to 90% C.L. for a DM particle of mass 1 TeV annihilating into tau+tau- (bb) with a local density of rho DM=0.3GeV/cm3. The constraints scale inversely with rho DM and are independent of the DM velocity distribution.
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38. |
- 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.
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39. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(författare)
-
Detection of astrophysical tau neutrino candidates in IceCube
- 2022
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 82
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-energy tau neutrinos are rarely produced in atmospheric cosmic-ray showers or at cosmic particle accelerators, but are expected to emerge during neutrino propagation over cosmic distances due to flavor mixing. When high energy tau neutrinos interact inside the IceCube detector, two spatially separated energy depositions may be resolved, the first from the charged current interaction and the second from the tau lepton decay. We report a novel analysis of 7.5 years of IceCube data that identifies two candidate tau neutrinos among the 60 "High-Energy Starting Events" (HESE) collected during that period. The HESE sample offers high purity, all-sky sensitivity, and distinct observational signatures for each neutrino flavor, enabling a new measurement of the flavor composition. The measured astrophysical neutrino flavor composition is consistent with expectations, and an astrophysical tau neutrino flux is indicated at 2.8 sigma significance.
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40. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(författare)
-
First all-flavor search for transient neutrino emission using 3-years of IceCube DeepCore data
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the discovery of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, searches for their origins have focused primarily at TeV-PeV energies. Compared to sub-TeV searches, high-energy searches benefit from an increase in the neutrino cross section, improved angular resolution on the neutrino direction, and a reduced background from atmospheric neutrinos and muons. However, the focus on high energy does not preclude the existence of sub-TeV neutrino emission where IceCube retains sensitivity. Here we present the first all-flavor search from IceCube for transient emission of low-energy neutrinos, focusing on the energy region of 5.6-100 GeV using three years of data obtained with the IceCube-DeepCore detector. We find no evidence of transient neutrino emission in the data, thus leading to a constraint on the volumetric rate of astrophysical transient sources in the range of similar to 705- 2301Gpc(-3) yr(-1) for sources following a subphotospheric energy spectrum with a mean energy of 100 GeV and a bolometric energy of 10(52) erg.
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41. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(författare)
-
IceCube high-energy starting event sample : Description and flux characterization with 7.5 years of data
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : American Physical Society. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 104:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has established the existence of a high-energy all-sky neutrino flux of astrophysical origin. This discovery was made using events interacting within a fiducial region of the detector surrounded by an active veto and with reconstructed energy above 60 TeV, commonly known as the high-energy starting event sample (HESE). We revisit the analysis of the HESE sample with an additional 4.5 years of data, newer glacial ice models, and improved systematics treatment. This paper describes the sample in detail, reports on the latest astrophysical neutrino flux measurements, and presents a source search for astrophysical neutrinos. We give the compatibility of these observations with specific isotropic flux models proposed in the literature as well as generic power-law-like scenarios. Assuming v(e): v(mu): v(tau) = 1:1:1, and an equal flux of neutrinos and antineutrinos, we find that the astrophysical neutrino spectrum is compatible with an unbroken power law, with a preferred spectral index of 2.87(-0.19)(+0.20) for the 68% confidence interval.
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42. |
- Abbasi, R., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of the high-energy all-flavor neutrino-nucleon cross section with IceCube
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : American Physical Society. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 104:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The flux of high-energy neutrinos passing through the Earth is attenuated due to their interactions with matter. The interaction rate is determined by the neutrino interaction cross section and affects the flux arriving at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a cubic-kilometer neutrino detector embedded in the Antarctic ice sheet. We present a measurement of the neutrino cross section between 60 TeV and 10 PeV using the high-energy starting event (HESE) sample from IceCube with 7.5 years of data. The result is binned in neutrino energy and obtained using both Bayesian and frequentist statistics. We find it compatible with predictions from the Standard Model. While the cross section is expected to be flavor independent above 1 TeV, additional constraints on the measurement are included through updated experimental particle identification (PID) classifiers, proxies for the three neutrino flavors. This is the first such measurement to use a ternary PID observable and the first to account for neutrinos from tau decay.
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43. |
- Abeysekara, A. U., et al.
(författare)
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All-sky Measurement of the Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays at 10 TeV and Mapping of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 871:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first full-sky analysis of the cosmic ray arrival direction distribution with data collected by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov and IceCube observatories in the northern and southern hemispheres at the same median primary particle energy of 10 TeV. The combined sky map and angular power spectrum largely eliminate biases that result from partial sky coverage and present a key to probe into the propagation properties of TeV cosmic rays through our local interstellar medium and the interaction between the interstellar and heliospheric magnetic fields. From the map, we determine the horizontal dipole components of the anisotropy delta(0h) = 9.16 x 10(-4) and delta(6h) = 7.25 x 10(-4) (+/- 0.04 x 10(-4)). In addition, we infer the direction (229 degrees.2 +/- 3 degrees.5 R.A., 11 degrees.4 +/- 3 degrees.0 decl.) of the interstellar magnetic field from the boundary between large-scale excess and deficit regions from which we estimate the missing corresponding vertical dipole component of the large-scale anisotropy to be delta(N) similar to -3.97(-2.0)(+1.0) x 10(-4).
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44. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
-
A Search for MeV to TeV Neutrinos from Fast Radio Bursts with IceCube
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 890:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present two searches for IceCube neutrino events coincident with 28 fast radio bursts (FRBs) and 1 repeating FRB. The first improves on a previous IceCube analysis-searching for spatial and temporal correlation of events with FRBs at energies greater than roughly 50 GeV-by increasing the effective area by an order of magnitude. The second is a search for temporal correlation of MeV neutrino events with FRBs. No significant correlation is found in either search; therefore, we set upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino flux emitted by FRBs for a range of emission timescales less than one day. These are the first limits on FRB neutrino emission at the MeV scale, and the limits set at higher energies are an order-of-magnitude improvement over those set by any neutrino telescope.
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45. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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ANTARES and IceCube Combined Search for Neutrino Point-like and Extended Sources in the Southern Sky
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 892:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A search for point-like and extended sources of cosmic neutrinos using data collected by the ANTARES and IceCube neutrino telescopes is presented. The data set consists of all the track-like and shower-like events pointing in the direction of the Southern Sky included in the nine-year ANTARES point-source analysis, combined with the throughgoing track-like events used in the seven-year IceCube point-source search. The advantageous field of view of ANTARES and the large size of IceCube are exploited to improve the sensitivity in the Southern Sky by a factor of similar to 2 compared to both individual analyses. In this work, the Southern Sky is scanned for possible excesses of spatial clustering, and the positions of preselected candidate sources are investigated. In addition, special focus is given to the region around the Galactic Center, whereby a dedicated search at the location of SgrA* is performed, and to the location of the supernova remnant RXJ 1713.7-3946. No significant evidence for cosmic neutrino sources is found, and upper limits on the flux from the various searches are presented.
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46. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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Combined search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilation in the Galactic Center with ANTARES and IceCube
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 102:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results of the first combined dark matter search targeting the Galactic Center using the ANTARES and IceCube neutrino telescopes. For dark matter particles with masses from 50 to 1000 GeV, the sensitivities on the self-annihilation cross section set by ANTARES and IceCube are comparable, making this mass range particularly interesting for a joint analysis. Dark matter self-annihilation through the tau(+)tau(-) , mu(+)mu(-) , b (b) over bar, and W+W- channels is considered for both the Navarro-Frenk-White and Burkert halo profiles. In the combination of 2101.6 days of ANTARES data and 1007 days of IceCube data, no excess over the expected background is observed. Limits on the thermally averaged dark matter annihilation cross section are set. These limits present an improvement of up to a factor of 2 in the studied dark matter mass range with respect to the individual limits published by both collaborations. When considering dark matter particles with a mass of 200 GeV annihilating through the tau(+)tau(-)channel, the value obtained for the limit is 7.44 x 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1 )for the Navarro-Frenk-White halo profile. For the purpose of this joint analysis, the model parameters and the likelihood are unified, providing a benchmark for forthcoming dark matter searches performed by neutrino telescopes.
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47. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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Cosmic ray spectrum from 250 TeV to 10 PeV using IceTop
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 102:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report here an extension of the measurement of the all-particle cosmic-ray spectrum with IceTop to lower energy. The new measurement gives full coverage of the knee region of the spectrum and reduces the gap in energy between previous IceTop and direct measurements. With a new trigger that selects events in closely spaced detectors in the center of the array, the IceTop energy threshold is lowered by almost an order of magnitude below its previous threshold of 2 PeV. In this paper we explain how the new trigger is implemented, and we describe the new machine-learning method developed to deal with events with very few detectors hit. We compare the results with previous measurements by IceTop and others that overlap at higher energy and with HAWC and Tibet in the 100 TeV range.
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48. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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IceCube Search for High-energy Neutrino Emission from TeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 898:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are the main gamma-ray emitters in the Galactic plane. They are diffuse nebulae that emit nonthermal radiation. Pulsar winds, relativistic magnetized outflows from the central star, shocked in the ambient medium produce a multiwavelength emission from the radio through gamma-rays. Although the leptonic scenario is able to explain most PWNe emission, a hadronic contribution cannot be excluded. A possible hadronic contribution to the high-energy gamma-ray emission inevitably leads to the production of neutrinos. Using 9.5 yr of all-sky IceCube data, we report results from a stacking analysis to search for neutrino emission from 35 PWNe that are high-energy gamma-ray emitters. In the absence of any significant correlation, we set upper limits on the total neutrino emission from those PWNe and constraints on hadronic spectral components.
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49. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 848:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of similar to 1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg(2) at a luminosity distance of 40(-8)(+8) Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M-circle dot. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at similar to 40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over similar to 10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position similar to 9 and similar to 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.
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50. |
- Ahrens, Maryon, et al.
(författare)
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Search for Sources of Astrophysical Neutrinos Using Seven Years of IceCube Cascade Events
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 886:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Low-background searches for astrophysical neutrino sources anywhere in the sky can be performed using cascade events induced by neutrinos of all flavors interacting in IceCube with energies as low as similar to 1 TeV. Previously we showed that, even with just two years of data, the resulting sensitivity to sources in the southern sky is competitive with IceCube and ANTARES analyses using muon tracks induced by charge current muon neutrino interactions-especially if the neutrino emission follows a soft energy spectrum or originates from an extended angular region. Here, we extend that work by adding five more years of data, significantly improving the cascade angular resolution, and including tests for point-like or diffuse Galactic emission to which this data set is particularly well suited. For many of the signal candidates considered, this analysis is the most sensitive of any experiment to date. No significant clustering was observed, and thus many of the resulting constraints are the most stringent to date. In this paper we will describe the improvements introduced in this analysis and discuss our results in the context of other recent work in neutrino astronomy.
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