Astroparticle Physics with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

埋藏在南极冰盖深处的冰立方中微子天文台(ICNO)是世界上最大、最灵敏的高能中微子望远镜。它是一个10亿吨重的探测器，使用南极冰层作为高能大气和天体物理中微子的探测介质。冰立方观测到的大多数中微子的能量都在大气中微子的预期范围内，这些中微子是由来自银河系附近扇区的宇宙射线在大范围的空气骤雨中产生的粒子衰变而产生的。这些可以用来测量中微子的基本性质。在较高能量下，天体物理中微子是研究高能宇宙的关键探测器。由于其独特的性质，中微子甚至可以逃脱密集区域，不受银河系或银河系外磁场的偏转，畅通无阻地穿越充满光子的宇宙。因此，中微子提供了关于强大宇宙物体的动力学和内部结构的直接信息，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。发展多样化的STEM劳动力是一个重要目标，研究小组中一半以上的研究生和本科生中的女性和代表性不足的少数群体成员。向几名从事冰立方关键研究课题的本科生提供实践研究机会。该小组通过各种媒体，在不同层面上让公众参与到这项研究中来。该奖项还支持为当地高中生举办的IceCube大师班研讨会，让他们使用威斯康星大学为IceCube开发的非常成功的程序来分析真实的IceCube数据，该程序在世界各地的合作机构提供。IceCube天文台主要设计用于观测来自银河系和银河系外的超高能中微子。位于冰立方中心的一个名为DeepCore的内部阵列也可以观测到能量可见味道振荡的中微子。该奖项支持振荡测量，其精度可与目前世界领先的MINOS、T2K和Nova实验结果相媲美，但能量要高得多--提供了对中微子振荡的补充观点，对新物理具有广泛的敏感性。此外，DeepCore相对较高的能量范围允许对tau中微子外观进行世界上最高精度的测量：对中微子振荡和中微子与物质相互作用的标准理论进行直接、独立于模型的测试。冰立方数据还被用来搜索太阳和我们银河系中的暗物质，对一些暗物质模型具有世界领先的敏感性。

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 billion-ton 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.Development of a diverse STEM workforce is an important goal, and women and members of under-represented minority groups have made up more than half of the graduate and undergraduate students in the research group. Hands-on research opportunities are provided to several undergraduates working on key IceCube research topics. The group engages the public with this research at a variety of levels and through a variety of media. This award also supports an IceCube MasterClass workshop for local high school students, giving them experience with analysis of real IceCube data, using the highly successful program developed for IceCube at the University of Wisconsin and delivered at collaborating institutions around the world.The IceCube Observatory was designed primarily to observe very high energy neutrinos from galactic and extragalactic sources. An inner array known as DeepCore, located in the center of IceCube, also permits observation of neutrinos with energies at which flavor oscillations are visible. This award supports oscillation measurements with precision comparable to the current world-leading results from the MINOS, T2K, and NOvA experiments, but at much higher energies - providing a complementary view of neutrino oscillations with broad sensitivity to new physics. In addition, the relatively high energy range of DeepCore allows the world's highest precision measurement of tau neutrino appearance: a direct, model-independent test of the standard theories of neutrino oscillations and neutrino interactions with matter. IceCube data is also used to search for dark matter in the Sun and our Galaxy, with world-leading sensitivity to some models of dark matter.