| 1. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(author)
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Very high-energy gamma-ray follow-up program using neutrino triggers from IceCube
- 2016
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In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221 .- 1748-0221. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 2. |
- Kankare, E., et al.
(author)
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Search for transient optical counterparts to high-energy IceCube neutrinos with Pan-STARRS1
- 2019
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 626
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In order to identify the sources of the observed diffuse high-energy neutrino flux, it is crucial to discover their electromagnetic counterparts. To increase the sensitivity of detecting counterparts of transient or variable sources by telescopes with a limited field of view, IceCube began releasing alerts for single high-energy (E-v > 60 TeV) neutrino detections with sky localisation regions of order 1 degrees radius in 2016. We used Pan-STARRS1 to follow-up five of these alerts during 2016-2017 to search for any optical transients that may be related to the neutrinos. Typically 10-20 faint m(ip1) less than or similar to 22.5 mag) extragalactic transients are found within the Pan-STARRS1 footprints and are generally consistent with being unrelated field supernovae (SNe) and AGN. We looked for unusual properties of the detected transients, such as temporal coincidence of explosion epoch with the IceCube timestamp, or other peculiar light curve and physical properties. We found only one transient that had properties worthy of a specific follow-up. In the Pan-STARRS1 imaging for IceCube-160427A (probability to be of astrophysical origin of similar to 50%), we found a SN PS16cgx, located at 10.0' from the nominal IceCube direction. Spectroscopic observations of PS16cgx showed that it was an H-poor SN at redshift z = 0.2895 +/- 0.0001. The spectra and light curve resemble some high-energy Type Ic SNe, raising the possibility of a jet driven SN with an explosion epoch temporally coincident with the neutrino detection. However, distinguishing Type Ia and Type Ic SNe at this redshift is notoriously difficult. Based on all available data we conclude that the transient is more likely to be a Type Ia with relatively weak Sin absorption and a fairly normal rest-frame r-band light curve. If, as predicted, there is no high-energy neutrino emission from Type Ia SNe, then PS16cgx must be a random coincidence, and unrelated to the IceCube-160427A. We find no other plausible optical transient for any of the five IceCube events observed down to a 5 sigma limiting magnitude of mip1 approximate to 22 mag, between 1 day and 25 days after detection.
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| 3. |
- Garrappa, S., et al.
(author)
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Investigation of Two Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Blazars Coincident with High-energy Neutrinos Detected by IceCube
- 2019
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 880:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- After the identification of the gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 as the first compelling IceCube neutrino source candidate, we perform a systematic analysis of all high-energy neutrino events satisfying the IceCube realtime trigger criteria. We find one additional known gamma-ray source, the blazar GB6 J1040+0617, in spatial coincidence with a neutrino in this sample. The chance probability of this coincidence is 30% after trial correction. For the first time, we present a systematic study of the gamma-ray flux, spectral and optical variability, and multiwavelength behavior of GB6 J1040+0617 and compare it to TXS 0506+056. We find that TXS 0506+056 shows strong flux variability in the Fermi-Large Area Telescope gamma-ray band, being in an active state around the arrival of IceCube-170922A, but in a low state during the archival IceCube neutrino flare in 2014/15. In both cases the spectral shape is statistically compatible (<= 2 sigma) with the average spectrum showing no indication of a significant relative increase of a high-energy component. While the association of GB6 J1040+0617 with the neutrino is consistent with background expectations, the source appears to be a plausible neutrino source candidate based on its energetics and multiwavelength features, namely a bright optical flare and modestly increased gamma-ray activity. Finding one or two neutrinos originating from gamma-ray blazars in the given sample of high-energy neutrinos is consistent with previously derived limits of neutrino emission from gamma-ray blazars, indicating the sources of the majority of cosmic high-energy neutrinos remain unknown.
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| 4. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(author)
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Cosmic ray spectrum and composition from PeV to EeV using 3 years of data from IceTop and IceCube
- 2019
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In: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 100:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on measurements of the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum and composition in the PeV to EeV energy range using 3 years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The IceTop detector measures cosmic ray induced air showers on the surface of the ice, from which the energy spectrum of cosmic rays is determined by making additional assumptions about the mass composition. A separate measurement is performed when IceTop data are analyzed in coincidence with the high-energy muon energy loss information from the deep in-ice IceCube detector. In this measurement, both the spectrum and the mass composition of the primary cosmic rays are simultaneously reconstructed using a neural network trained on observables from both detectors. The performance and relative advantages of these two distinct analyses are discussed, including the systematic uncertainties and the dependence on the hadronic interaction models, and both all-particle spectra as well as individual spectra for elemental groups are presented.
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| 5. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(author)
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Development of an analysis to probe the neutrino mass ordering with atmospheric neutrinos using three years of IceCube DeepCore data IceCube Collaboration
- 2020
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In: European Physical Journal C. - : SPRINGER. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Neutrino Mass Ordering (NMO) remains one of the outstanding questions in the field of neutrino physics. One strategy to measure the NMO is to observe matter effects in the oscillation pattern of atmospheric neutrinos above similar to 1GeV, as proposed for several next-generation neutrino experiments. Moreover, the existing IceCube DeepCore detector can already explore this type of measurement. We present the development and application of two independent analyses to search for the signature of the NMO with three years of DeepCore data. These analyses include a full treatment of systematic uncertainties and a statistically-rigorous method to determine the significance for the NMO from a fit to the data. Both analyses show that the dataset is fully compatible with both mass orderings. For the more sensitive analysis, we observe a preference for normal ordering with a p-value of pIO=15.3% and CLs=53.3% for the inverted ordering hypothesis, while the experimental results from both analyses are consistent within their uncertainties. Since the result is independent of the value of delta CP and obtained from energies E nu greater than or similar to 5GeV, it is complementary to recent results from long-baseline experiments. These analyses set the groundwork for the future of this measurement with more capable detectors, such as the IceCube Upgrade and the proposed PINGU detector.
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| 6. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(author)
-
Measurement of atmospheric tau neutrino appearance with IceCube DeepCore
- 2019
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In: Physical Review D. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 99:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a measurement of atmospheric tau neutrino appearance from oscillations with three years of data from the DeepCore subarray of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. This analysis uses atmospheric neutrinos from the full sky with reconstructed energies between 5.6 and 56 GeV to search for a statistical excess of cascadelike neutrino events which are the signature of nu(tau) interactions. For CC thorn NC (CC-only) interactions, we measure the tau neutrino normalization to be 0.73(-0.24)(+0.30) (0.57(-0.30)(+0.36)) and exclude the absence of tau neutrino oscillations at a significance of 3.2 sigma (2.0 sigma) These results are consistent with, and of similar precision to, a confirmatory IceCube analysis also presented, as well as measurements performed by other experiments.
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| 7. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(author)
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Neutrinos below 100 TeV from the southern sky employing refined veto techniques to IceCube data
- 2020
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In: Astroparticle physics. - : ELSEVIER. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 116
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 8. |
- Jackura, A., et al.
(author)
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New analysis of eta pi tensor resonances measured at the COMPASS experiment
- 2018
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In: Physics Letters B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693 .- 1873-2445. ; 779, s. 464-472
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a new amplitude analysis of the eta pi D-wave in the reaction pi(-) p -> eta pi(-) p measured by COMPASS. Employing an analytical model based on the principles of the relativistic S-matrix, we find two resonances that can be identified with the a(2)(1320) and the excited a(2)(1700), and perform a comprehensive analysis of their pole positions. For the mass and width of the a(2) we find M = (1307 +/- 1 6) MeV and Gamma=(112 +/- 1 +/- 8) MeV, and for the excited state a(2)' we obtain M = (1720 +/- 10 +/- 60) MeV and Gamma = (280 +/- 10 +/- 70) MeV, respectively.
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| 9. |
- Adolph, C., et al.
(author)
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Azimuthal asymmetries of charged hadrons produced in high-energy muon scattering off longitudinally polarised deuterons
- 2018
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In: European Physical Journal C. - : SPRINGER. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 78:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Single hadron azimuthal asymmetries of positive and negative hadrons produced in muon semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering off longitudinally polarised deuterons are determined using the 2006 COMPASS data and also combined all deuteron COMPASS data. For each hadron charge, the dependence of the azimuthal asymmetry on the hadron azimuthal angle f is obtained by means of a fiveparameter fitting function that besides a f-independent term includes four modulations predicted by theory: sin f, sin 2f, sin 3f and cos f. The amplitudes of the five terms have been extracted, first, for the hadrons in the whole available kinematic region. In further fits, performed for hadrons from a restricted kinematic region, the f-dependence is determined as a function of one of three variables (Bjorken-x, fractional energy of virtual photon taken by the outgoing hadron and hadron transverse momentum), while disregarding the others. Except thef-independent term, all themodulation amplitudes are very small, and no clear kinematic dependence could be observed within experimental uncertainties.
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| 10. |
- Adolph, C., et al.
(author)
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Final COMPASS results on the deuteron spin-dependent structure function g(1)(d) and the Bjorken sum rule
- 2017
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In: Physics Letters B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693 .- 1873-2445. ; 769, s. 34-41
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Final results are presented from the inclusive measurement of deep-inelastic polarised-muon scattering on longitudinally polarised deuterons using a 6LiD target. The data were taken at 160 GeV beam energy and the results are shown for the kinematic range 1 (GeV/c)2 < Q2 < 100 (GeV/c)2 in photon virtuality, 0.004 < x < 0.7 in the Bjorken scaling variable and W > 4GeV/c2 in the mass of the hadronic final state. The deuteron double-spin asymmetry A(1)(d) and the deuteron longitudinal-spin structure function g(1)(d) are presented in bins of x and Q2. Towards lowest accessible values of x, g(1)(d) decreases and becomes consistent with zero within uncertainties. The presented final g(1)(p) values together with the recently published final g(1)(p) values of COMPASS are used to again evaluate the Bjorken sum rule and perform the QCD fit to the g1 world data at next-to-leading order of the strong coupling constant. In both cases, changes in central values of the resulting numbers are well within statistical uncertainties. The flavour singlet axial charge a0, which is identified in the MS renormalisation scheme with the total contribution of quark helicities to the nucleon spin, is extracted at next-to-leading order accuracy from only the COMPASS deuteron data: a0(Q2 = 3 (GeV/c)2) = 0.32 +/- 0.02stat +/- 0.04syst +/- 0.05evol. Together with the recent results on the proton spin structure function g(1)(p), the results on g(1)(d) constitute the COMPASS legacy on the measurements of g1 through inclusive spin-dependent deep inelastic scattering.
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