Detecting Astrophysical Neutrinos with the IceCube Observatory

by Chad Finley (Stockholm University)

Tuesday 27 Oct 2009, 13:15 → 14:15 Europe/Stockholm

FA32

Observations spanning TeV gamma rays to EeV cosmic rays suggest that a correlated flux of neutrinos within this energy range should also exist. The principal mission of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is to detect these high energy neutrinos and identify their sources. The leading candidates are objects long suspected of accelerating cosmic rays, including supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei, and gamma ray bursts. The challenge is first to build a detector large enough for the modest fluxes of weakly-interacting neutrinos, and second to separate these neutrino events from cosmic ray backgrounds. I will describe the strategies for neutrino point source searches, present recent results from the partially completed detector, and outline some ideas for maximizing the discovery potential of the full IceCube Observatory in the near future.