Search for Tau Neutrinos in IceCube Data

在 IceCube 数据中搜索 Tau 中微子

• 批准号: 0855398
• 负责人: Dawn Williams
• 金额: $ 51.6万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855398&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Search; Tau; Neutrinos; IceCube; Data

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The partially completed IceCube neutrino observatory, located near the geographic South Pole, is already collecting physics data in the largest instrumented volume of any neutrino detector. In the next three years, IceCube will complete construction and arrive at its final goal of instrumenting a full cubic kilometer of ice, the volume which many theorists believe is necessary to detect neutrinos from some of the most powerful known astrophysical objects such as active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts (GRBs). The next three years should see the beginning of neutrino astrophysics in IceCube, with a rich dataset to exploit.This award will fund a new IceCube group that will explore the tau neutrino channel, which is free of atmospheric neutrino background, making tau neutrino detection a "smoking gun" for an astrophysical source. The group will focus on lower-energy tau neutrinos (down to 100 TeV). Using the unique waveforms produced by tau neutrinos, the group will search for coincidences between tau neutrino signals and optical observations, coincidences between tau neutrinos and GRBs and point sources of tau neutrinos.The broader impact of the program includes the PI's contribution to the Department of Physics and Astronomy's existing outreach programs; in particular, the outreach program of the Materials for Information Science (MINT) center, which has a partnership with the Tuscaloosa Children's Hands On Museum (CHOM). The MINT outreach program seeks to expand from materials-science based outreach to general physics.

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏与再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。 位于地理南极附近的部分完成的Icecube中微子天文台已经在任何中微子检测器的最大仪器体积中收集物理数据。在接下来的三年中，IceCube将完成施工，并实现其仪器的最终目标，以启动整个立方公里的冰，许多理论家认为，从某些最强大的已知天体物理物体（如主动的银河系核和伽玛射线）（GRBS）（GRB）中检测中微子是必要的。接下来的三年应该在IceCube中看到中微子天体物理学的开始，并拥有丰富的数据集来利用。该奖项将资助一个新的Icecube组，该组织将探索Tau Neutrino通道，该渠道不含大气中微子的背景，使Tau Neutrino探测了一种“吸烟枪”的“吸烟枪”，以获得天体的prophatosical Source。该小组将专注于低能量的tau中微子（降至100 TEV）。使用Tau Neutminos产生的独特波形，该小组将搜索Tau中微子信号与光学观察之间的巧合，Tau Neutrinos和Grbs之间的一致性以及Tau Neutminos的点源之间的巧合。该程序的广泛影响包括PI对物理学和天文学的持续启动的贡献；特别是，信息科学材料（MINT）中心的外展计划，该计划与Tuscaloosa儿童的博物馆（CHOM）建立了伙伴关系。薄荷外展计划旨在将基于材料科学的外展扩展到一般物理学。