Physics and Astrophysics with IceCube Neutrino Observatory

IceCube 中微子天文台的物理学和天体物理学

• 批准号: 1210052
• 负责人: P. Buford Price
• 金额: $ 85.46万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1210052&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Physics; Astrophysics; IceCube; Neutrino; Observatory

This award supports the University of California-Berkeley group to continue their participation in the newly completed IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The Berkeley group plays a leading role in calibrations, monitoring, simulations, operations, management, and other service tasks in addition to analyzing data. Over the period of this award the group will engage in a range of physics and astrophysics research. Using the newly available and powerful background veto capabilities of the cubic kilometer detector the group will measure atmospheric neutrino-induced cascades and search for a diffuse extraterrestrial flux of high-energy electron neutrinos. The goal is the first definitive detection of electromagnetic and hadronic particle showers initiated by interactions of high-energy neutrinos in a medium. They will search for violation of Lorentz-invariance and superluminal neutrinos using high-energy neutrinos detected by IceCube to improve the current limit or find a violation using time-of-flight measurements with respect to gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae. Finally, they will use data from DeepCore, the low energy extension of IceCube, for high-statistics measurements probing the dark matter and neutrino oscillations sectors. These measurements will depend on precise knowledge of geometrical and optical detector and ice properties. The Berkeley group will extend their measurements of the optical properties of the deep ice with measurements of the scattering function and the properties of the columns of refrozen ice surrounding the optical sensors.Broader Impacts: Members of the group will visit and give talks to students at nearby colleges with predominantly minority enrollments, to local groups of amateur astronomers, and to the general public. The PI will give talks to business leaders in the Bay Area and give talks and advise scientists in developing countries. Members of the group will communicate with reporters writing about science in the popular press and coordinate outreach activities involving the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica program and the Upward Bound program. The group is also involved in spin-off projects, through its inventions of novel instruments such as the optical dust logger and the biospectral logger. These projects advance our understanding of climate change and microbial life under extreme conditions close to those on Mars. The group will continue communications with glaciologists who use results from the Berkeley group's ice measurements to get a more complete understanding of glacial ice, and the movement and fate of the Antarctic ice sheet.

该奖项支持加州大学伯克利分校的小组继续参与南极新完成的IceCube中微子天文台。伯克利小组在校准，监控，模拟，运营，管理和其他服务任务以及分析数据方面发挥着主导作用。在此期间，该小组将从事一系列物理学和天体物理学研究。 利用立方千米探测器新提供的强大的背景否决能力，该小组将测量大气中微子诱导的级联，并寻找高能电子中微子的弥漫性地外通量。 目标是首次明确探测由高能中微子在介质中相互作用引发的电磁和强子粒子簇射。他们将使用IceCube检测到的高能中微子来寻找洛伦兹不变性和超光速中微子的违规行为，以改善当前的限制，或者使用伽马射线爆发和核心塌陷超新星的飞行时间测量来寻找违规行为。 最后，他们将使用DeepCore（IceCube的低能扩展）的数据，用于探测暗物质和中微子振荡扇区的高统计测量。这些测量将取决于几何和光学探测器和冰的属性的精确知识。伯克利小组将通过测量散射函数和光学传感器周围重新冻结的冰柱的特性来扩展他们对深冰光学特性的测量。更广泛的影响：小组成员将访问附近以少数民族为主的大学的学生，当地的业余天文学家团体和普通公众，并向他们发表演讲。PI将与湾区的商界领袖进行会谈，并为发展中国家的科学家提供演讲和建议。该小组的成员将与在大众媒体上撰写科学文章的记者进行交流，并协调涉及教师体验南极计划和上行计划的外联活动。该集团还参与了衍生项目，通过其发明的新仪器，如光学灰尘记录仪和生物光谱记录仪。这些项目推进了我们对气候变化和接近火星极端条件下微生物生命的理解。该小组将继续与冰川学家沟通，他们使用伯克利小组的冰测量结果来更全面地了解冰川冰以及南极冰盖的运动和命运。