Search for Tau Neutrinos in IceCube Data

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。 部分完成的IceCube中微子观测站位于地理南极附近，已经在收集物理数据，其仪器体积是所有中微子探测器中最大的。在接下来的三年里，IceCube将完成建设，并达到其最终目标，即测量一个完整的立方公里的冰，许多理论家认为这是从一些最强大的已知天体（如活动星系核和伽马射线暴）中检测中微子所必需的体积。未来三年内，IceCube将开始进行中微子天体物理学研究，并利用丰富的数据集。该奖项将资助一个新的IceCube小组，该小组将探索tau中微子通道，该通道不受大气中微子背景的影响，使tau中微子探测成为天体物理学来源的“确凿证据”。该小组将专注于较低能量的τ中微子（低至100 TeV）。利用τ中微子产生的独特波形，该小组将寻找τ中微子信号与光学观测之间的巧合，τ中微子与伽马射线暴之间的巧合以及τ中微子的点源。该计划的更广泛影响包括PI对物理和天文学系现有推广计划的贡献;特别是信息科学材料中心（MINT）的外展计划，该中心与塔斯卡卢萨儿童动手博物馆（CHOM）建立了合作伙伴关系。MINT外展计划旨在从材料科学扩展到普通物理学。

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.