WoU-MMA: IceCube Data Analysis in the U.S.

该奖项为美国科学家提供资金，用于对位于美国阿蒙森-斯科特南极站的冰立方中微子天文台(ICNO)获取的数据进行科学分析。ICNO将1立方米的天然冰(深度从1.4到2.4公里)转化为一个巨大的切伦科夫发射探测器，从而创造了能量约为10GeV以上的世界上最大的中微子探测器。自2010年建成以来，ICNO首次探测到能量超过六个数量级的中微子，从10GeV到5PeV以上。(GeV=十亿电子伏特；TeV=一万亿电子伏特；PeV=一千万亿电子伏特。)2017年，ICNO探测到一个能量为290TeV的中微子，它的起源被定位(再次首次)到大约350万光年远的一颗blazar上。这一探测引发了一场涉及大约20个天基和地面望远镜的广泛运动，开启了多信使探测的新纪元。神秘的南极环境和引人入胜的冰立方科学是一个诱人的组合。除了在报纸和科普出版物上广泛报道外，冰立方在社交媒体和万维网上也有重要的存在。在接下来的三年里，重点项目包括继续开发一款在线视频游戏，为Zooniverse举办一项活动，以及为他们成功的高中大师班提供内容。这些活动还将通过将研究生和本科教育与IceCube技术开发、天体物理观测和ICNO数据的科学分析相结合，为培养下一代科学家做出贡献。美国团队在分析IceCube数据方面已经建立了坚实和成功的记录。这一奖项将使一个统一的分析计划得以实现，从而最大限度地发挥日益相互关联的努力的影响。从多个天体物理信使合成的信息现在为探索宇宙提供了一个强大的新工具。到目前为止，从宇宙中探测到的能量最高的信使是宇宙射线：可能主要是质子的高能原子核。我们还不知道它们是在哪里加速到这些极端能量的，或者是如何加速到这些极端能量的，但随着对遥远的blazar的观测与一个非常高能量的Muon中微子的方向和时间不谋而合，中微子现在为解开这个谜团提供了第一个突破。结果表明，中微子是未来从太空到达我们的最高能量辐射的多信息研究的关键组成部分。因此，该奖项阐述并推进了美国国家科学基金会“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”计划的科学目标和目标。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award provides funding for U.S. scientists to perform the scientific analysis of data taken with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO) located at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The ICNO transformed one cubic kilometer of natural ice (at the depth from 1.4 to 2.4 km) into a giant Cherenkov emission detector, thus creating the world's largest neutrino detector above energies of approximately 10 GeV. Since its completion in 2010, the ICNO has detected neutrinos with energies spanning more than six orders of magnitude, from 10 GeV to beyond 5 PeV for the first time. (GeV = one billion electron volts; TeV = one trillion electron volts; and PeV = one quadrillion electron volts.) In 2017, the ICNO detected a neutrino with an energy of 290 TeV and its origin was pinpointed (again for the first time) to a blazar at a distance of about 3.5 million light years. This detection triggered an extensive campaign involving some twenty space- and ground-based telescopes that launched a new era in multi-messenger detection. The mystique of the South Pole environment and the compelling science of IceCube are an alluring mix. Besides its extensive coverage in newspapers and publications popularizing science, IceCube has a significant presence on social media and the World Wide Web. In the next three years, focused projects include the continued development of an online video game, an activity for Zooniverse, and content for their successful high school MasterClasses. These activities will also contribute to the training of the next generation of scientists by integrating graduate and undergraduate education with the IceCube technology development, astrophysical observations, and scientific analyses of the ICNO data.The U.S. groups have established a solid and successful record of analyzing data from IceCube. This award will enable a unified analysis program which will maximize the impact of increasingly interconnected efforts. The synthesis of information from multiple astrophysical messengers is now providing a powerful new tool for probing the Universe. The highest energy messengers so far detected from the Universe are cosmic rays: high energy nuclei that are likely mostly protons. We do not yet know where or how they are accelerated to these extreme energies, but with the observation of a distant blazar in coincidence with the direction and time of a very high energy muon neutrino, neutrinos have now provided the first breakthrough in the resolution of this puzzle. The results reveal neutrinos as a key component of future multimessenger studies of the highest energy radiation reaching us from space. Thus, this award addresses and advances the science objectives and goals of the NSF's "Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.