WoU-MMA: IceCube Data Analysis in the U.S. 2022-2025

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观测站（ICNO）采集的数据进行科学分析。ICNO将一立方公里的天然冰（深度从1.4公里到2.4公里）转化为一个巨大的粒子探测器，从而创造了世界上最大的中微子探测器。自2010年建成以来，ICNO已经探测到能量超过6个数量级的中微子，从10 GeV到10 PeV以上，首次发现了从太阳系外到达我们的中微子。（GeV = 10亿电子伏特；TeV = 1万亿电子伏特；PeV = 1千万亿电子伏特）2017年，ICNO探测到一颗能量为290 TeV的中微子，它的起源（再次是第一次）被确定为距离约350万光年的超大质量黑洞。这一发现引发了一场广泛的运动，涉及大约20个空间和地面望远镜，开创了多信使探测的新时代。通过十年的数据，ICNO正在提供强有力的证据，证明宇宙射线的起源与活跃星系中心的超大质量黑洞有关。南极环境的神秘和冰立方令人信服的科学是一个诱人的组合。除了在报纸和出版物上广泛报道科普外，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虚拟现实体验，Zooniverse已经进入测试阶段的活动，以及他们成功的高中大师班的内容。这些活动还将通过将研究生和本科教育与冰立方技术开发、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。最近，我们向公众发布了冰立方十年来的中微子观测结果。美国的研究小组已经建立了一个坚实而成功的冰立方数据分析记录。该合同将使一个统一的分析计划成为可能，该计划将使日益相互关联的努力的影响最大化。综合来自多个天体物理信使的信息现在为探索宇宙提供了一个强大的新工具。中微子揭示了迄今为止从宇宙中探测到的最高能量信使诞生的第一个地点，并被潜伏在活跃星系中心的超大质量黑洞加速到极端能量，从而揭示了自己作为多信使天文学的一个强大组成部分。因此，该奖项强调并推进了NSF“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”项目的科学目标。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知识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 particle detector, thus creating the world's largest neutrino detector. Since its completion in 2010, the ICNO has detected neutrinos with energies spanning more than six orders of magnitude, from 10 GeV to beyond 10 PeV, identifying for the first time neutrinos reaching us from outside the solar system. (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 supermassive black hole 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. With a decade of data ICNO is producing strong evidence that the origin of cosmic rays is associated with the supermassive black holes at the centers of active galaxies.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 a virtual reality experience, an activity that has reached the beta stage 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. Recently, we have released a decade of IceCube neutrino observations to the public.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. Neutrinos have revealed themselves as a powerful component of multimessenger astronomy by revealing the first sites where the highest energy messengers so far detected from the Universe are born and accelerated to extreme energies powered by the supermassive black holes lurking at the center of active galaxies. 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.