Physics and Astrophysics with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Abstract:

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the world's first kilometer scale neutrino telescope. The detector is comprised of 5,160 photomultiplier tubes strung on 86cables and installed in the South Pole polar ice cap at depths from 1450 to 2450 m. The primary purpose of IceCube is to detect sources of high energy cosmicrays through their neutrino emissions. IceCube has already placed the most stringent limits to date on models of hadronic acceleration as an engine for gamma ray bursts. IceCube is also the world's largest particle detector and hasbeen used for a variety of searches for new physics, including dark matter,monopoles, and quantum gravity.

Due to its unprecedented size, and the ability to detect atmospheric neutrinosfrom about 100 GeV (as low as 10 GeV with the DeepCore infill array) up to aPeV, IceCube is uniquely capable of studying the flux of high energy atmospheric neutrinos. The atmospheric neutrino spectrum has been used to search forevidence of charm production in the atmosphere, phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity such as violations of Lorentz invariance or quantumdecoherence, and non-standard interactions. The mean energy of a TeV for atmospheric neutrinos detected by IceCube is ideal to search for flavor-changing oscillations between active and sterile neutrinos at the delta²~1 eV² scale. Such oscillations have been hinted at by short baseline oscillation experiments, reactor neutrino experiments, and radioactive source neutrino measurements. I will review the most recent results from IceCube, as well as ongoing investigations and plans for extending the physics reach of IceCube.