Neutrinos Archives

December 16, 2023December 16, 2023 by Matt Williams

Scientists are Recommending IceCube Should be Eight Times Bigger

This image shows a visual representation of one of the highest-energy neutrino detections superimposed on a view of the IceCube Lab at the South Pole. Credit: IceCube Collaboration

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), located at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, is one of the most ambitious neutrino observatories in the world. Behind this observatory is the IceCube Collaboration, an international group of 300 physicists from 59 institutions in 14 countries. Relying on a cubic kilometer of ice to shield from external interference, this observatory is dedicated to the search for neutrinos. These nearly massless subatomic particles are among the most abundant in the Universe and constantly pass through normal matter.

By studying these particles, scientists hope to gain insight into some of the most violent astrophysical sources – such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, merging black holes and neutron stars, etc. The group of scientists tasked with advising the U.S. government on particle physics research is known as the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5). In a recent draft report, “Pathways to Innovation and Discovery in Particle Physics,” the P5 team recommended a planned expansion of IceCube. This recommendation is one of several that define the future of astrophysics and particle physics research.

August 24, 2023August 24, 2023 by Scott Alan Johnston

IceCube-Gen2: 8 Cubic Kilometers of Ice, 5 Times the Sensitivity

The IceCube Neutrino Detector is an observatory unlike any other. Using sensors embedded inside a square kilometer chuck of Antarctic ice, it detects tiny particles called neutrinos, which rarely interact with ordinary matter and are incredibly hard to capture. IceCube has had several major successes in the last few years, including this summer’s announcement of a neutrino map of the Milky Way galaxy. But scientists are pushing up against the limits of IceCube’s capabilities, and plans are in the works for IceCube-Gen2: a detector 5 times as sensitive and 8 times as large, with a radio antenna array across four hundred square kilometers. IceCube Gen2 will increase the number of neutrino detections by an order of magnitude, and will be able to better pinpoint the sources from which the neutrinos are emitted.

August 10, 2023August 10, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Astronomers Search for Dark Matter Annihilation at the Center of the Earth

How IceCube can detect neutrinos from Earth's core. Credit: IceCube Collaboration

Dark matter is one of the thorniest mysteries of modern cosmology. On the one hand, astronomers have gathered a wealth of supporting evidence through galaxy clustering statistics, gravitational lensing, and cosmic microwave background fluctuations, on the other hand, there are no particles in the standard model of particle physics that could account for dark matter, and we haven’t been able to detect its effect locally. It’s a solid theory where we just can’t seem to fully pin it down. That usually means we’re just a breakthrough away from confirming or overthrowing dark matter. The good news is that there are several projects searching for dark matter, and one of them, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, has just released a new result.

November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Evan Gough

IceCube Senses Neutrinos Streaming From an Active Galaxy 47 Million Light-Years Away

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the Messier 77 spiral galaxy. Scientists working with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detected neutrinos emanating from the galaxy's core. Image Credit: By NASA, ESA & A. van der Hoeven - http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1305/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25328266

Researchers using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have detected neutrinos emanating from the energetic core of an active galaxy millions of light-years away. Neutrinos are difficult to detect, and finding them originating from the galaxy is a significant development. What does the discovery mean?

September 29, 2021September 29, 2021 by Evan Gough

Even the Quiet Supermassive Black Holes are Blasting out Neutrinos and Gamma Rays

Is there anywhere in the Universe where we can escape from radiation? Certainly not here on Earth. And not in space itself, which is filled with diffuse radiation in the form of gamma rays and neutrinos. Scientists have struggled to explain where all those gamma rays and neutrinos come from. A trio of researchers is proposing a source for all that radiation in a new paper: resting black holes.

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

Searching for Dark Matter Inside the Earth

Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries in science. Despite decades of astronomical evidence for its existence, no one has yet been able to find any sign of it closer to home. There have been dozens of efforts to do so, and one of the most prominent just hit a milestone – the release and analysis of 8 years of data. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory will soon be releasing results from those 8 years, but for now let’s dive in to what exactly they are looking for.

March 9, 2021March 9, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

Astronomers Track a Neutrino Back to the Source. Where a Black Hole Tore Apart a Star

Neutrinos are notoriously finicky particles. Hundreds of trillions pass through a person’s body every second, yet they hardly seem to interact with anything (though they actually do a lot). Even more hard to find are the “high energy” neutrinos that are believed to be formed as the outcome of some of the most violent events in the universe. Now, researchers using NASA’s Swift telescope have found a high energy neutrino for the first time from one type of those ultra-violent events – a tidal disruption. But something was a little bit off about it.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

If Dark Matter is Made of Sterile Neutrinos, a new Survey has Narrowed Down What to Look for

We don’t know what dark matter is. We do know what it isn’t, and that’s a problem. Matter is made of elementary particles, from the quarks and electrons that make up atoms and molecules, to primordial neutrinos spread throughout the cosmos. But none of the known elementary particles can comprise dark matter, so what is it?

February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 by Matt Williams

Neutrinos Have a Newly Discovered Method of Interacting With Matter, Opening up Ways to Find Them

SCGSR Awardee Jacob Zettlemoyer, Indiana University Bloomington, led data analysis and worked with ORNL’s Mike Febbraro on coatings, shown under blue light, to shift argon light to visible wavelengths to boost detection. Credit: Rex Tayloe/Indiana University

The neutrino is a confounding little particle that is believed to have played a major role in the evolution of our Universe. They also possess very little mass, have no charge, and interact with other particles only through the weak nuclear force and gravity. As such, finding evidence of their interactions is extremely difficult and requires advanced facilities that are shielded to prevent interference.

One such facility is the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where an international team of researchers are conducting the COHERENT particle physics experiment. Recently, researchers at COHERENT achieved a major breakthrough when they found the first evidence of a new kind of neutrino interaction, which effectively demonstrates a process known as coherent elastic neutrino-nuclear scattering (CEvNS).

October 27, 2020October 26, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Astronomers are ready and waiting to detect the neutrino blast from a nearby supernova explosion like Betelgeuse

One of the Daya Bay detectors. Roy Kaltschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

When giant stars die in impressive supernova blasts, about 99% of the energy released goes into producing a flood of neutrinos. These tiny, ghostly particles slip through tons of matter like it’s not even there. But a new generation of detectors will be able to catch them, telling us of the inner machinations of the deaths of stars.