Particle Astrophysics with IceCube at Georgia Tech

佐治亚理工学院的 IceCube 粒子天体物理学

• 批准号: 1505230
• 负责人: Ignacio Taboada
• 金额: $ 30.2万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1505230&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Particle; Astrophysics; IceCube; Georgia; Tech

Embedded deep in the ice cap at the South Pole, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO) is the world's largest and most sensitive high energy neutrino telescope. It is a 1 gigaton Cherenkov detector using the Antarctic ice as a detection medium for high energy atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos. Most of the neutrinos observed by IceCube exhibit energies in the range expected for atmospheric neutrinos originating from decays of particles produced in extensive air showers by Cosmic Rays coming from nearby sectors of the Milky Way Galaxy. These may be used to measure the fundamental properties of neutrinos. At higher energies, astrophysical neutrinos are key probes of the high-energy universe. Because of their unique properties, neutrinos escape even dense regions, are not deflected by galactic or extra-galactic magnetic fields and traverse the photon-filled universe unhindered. Thus, neutrinos provide direct information about the dynamics and interiors of the powerful cosmic objects that may be the origins of high energy cosmic rays: supernovae, black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and other extreme extragalactic phenomena.Students and postdocs working on this project will benefit by training in particle astrophysics, instrumentation and data analysis of very large data sets. An educational program including high-school students, teachers and undergraduate students will continue. In collaboration with CEISMC and GoSTEM at Georgia Tech the PI and members of his group present lectures and hands on demonstrations on the topics of particle and nuclear physics and astrophysics. The most powerful events in nature are usually transitory or episodic. Examples are the explosions of massive stars (core collapse supernovae, CC-SNe), high-energy emission by super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies (active galactic nuclei, AGNs), and the very energetic jets that power gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). This award will support the use of IceCube data to study very-high-energy neutrino astrophysical transients, including GRBs, choked GRBs and, potentially, still unknown types of astrophysical objects. The project will address two topics: a) Are choked GRBs related to CC-SNe and do they produce neutrinos? b) Are the sources of the astrophysical neutrino flux, recently discovered by IceCube, transient? Using IceCube data the Georgia Tech group will search for neutrino transients of one second to one day in duration in the 30 to 300 billion electron-volts energy range. The discovery of a neutrino burst with this search may reveal that CC-SNe and GRBs are part of a continuous class of astrophysical objects and that jets are also a feature of CC-SNe.

冰立方中微子天文台（ICNO）深埋在南极冰盖中，是世界上最大、最灵敏的高能中微子望远镜。它是一个十亿吨的切伦科夫探测器，利用南极冰作为探测高能大气和天体物理中微子的介质。冰立方观测到的大多数中微子的能量都在预期的大气中微子的能量范围内，这些中微子是由来自银河系附近部分的宇宙射线在广泛的空气阵雨中产生的粒子衰变产生的。这些可以用来测量中微子的基本性质。在更高的能量下，天体物理中微子是高能宇宙的关键探测器。由于其独特的性质，中微子甚至可以逃离密集的区域，不受星系或星系外磁场的偏转，并且可以不受阻碍地穿越充满光子的宇宙。因此，中微子提供了关于强大的宇宙物体的动力学和内部的直接信息，这些物体可能是高能宇宙射线的起源：超新星、黑洞、脉冲星、活动星系核和其他极端的河外现象。从事该项目的学生和博士后将受益于粒子天体物理学、仪器和超大数据集数据分析方面的培训。包括高中生、教师和大学生在内的教育项目将继续进行。在与CEISMC和佐治亚理工学院的GoSTEM的合作下，PI和他的小组成员就粒子和核物理以及天体物理学的主题进行了讲座和实践演示。自然界中最强大的事件通常是短暂的或偶发的。例如大质量恒星的爆炸（核心坍缩超新星，CC-SNe），星系中心超大质量黑洞的高能发射（活动星系核，agn），以及为伽马射线爆发（grb）提供能量的高能射流。该奖项将支持使用冰立方数据来研究高能中微子天体物理瞬态，包括伽马射线暴、窒息伽马射线暴以及潜在的未知天体物理对象类型。该项目将解决两个主题：a)窒息grb是否与CC-SNe有关，它们是否产生中微子？b)冰立方最近发现的天体物理中微子流的来源是短暂的吗？佐治亚理工学院的研究小组将利用冰立方的数据寻找300亿到3000亿电子伏特能量范围内持续一秒到一天的中微子瞬变。通过这次搜索发现的中微子暴可能会揭示CC-SNe和grb是连续一类天体物理物体的一部分，而喷流也是CC-SNe的一个特征。

项目成果

THE SEARCH FOR TRANSIENT ASTROPHYSICAL NEUTRINO EMISSION WITH ICECUBE-DEEPCORE

使用 ICECUBE-DEEPCORE 寻找瞬态天体物理中微子发射

• DOI: 10.3847/0004-637x/816/2/75
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Aartsen, M. G.;Abraham, K.;Ackermann, M.;Adams, J.;Aguilar, J. A.;Ahlers, M.;Ahrens, M.;Altmann, D.;Anderson, T.;Ansseau, I.
• 通讯作者: Ansseau, I.