IceCube Neutrino Observatory

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Acceleration, Light, Energy, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, Machine learning, Galaxy, Travel, Ice, Eye, Mineral oil

In fact, only one of them is likely to lightly tap an atom in your body in your entire lifetime.

Key Points:

In fact, only one of them is likely to lightly tap an atom in your body in your entire lifetime.
While much rarer, these energetic neutrinos are more likely to crash into something and create a signal that physicists like me can detect.
IceCube, one such experiment, documented an especially rare type of particularly energetic astrophysical neutrino in a study published in April 2024.

IceCube observatory

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the 800-pound gorilla of large neutrino experiments.
But the tau neutrino, one type of particularly energetic neutrino, has eluded IceCube – until now.

Neutrino flavors

When a neutrino bangs into another particle, it usually produces a charged particle that corresponds with its flavor.
A muon neutrino produces a muon, an electron neutrino produces an electron, and a tau neutrino produces a tau.
The third flavor of neutrino, the tau neutrino, is the chameleon of the trio.
One tau neutrino can appear as a track of light, while the next can appear as a ball.

Energetic tau neutrinos

This data confirms IceCube’s earlier discovery of astrophysical neutrinos, and they confirm a hint that IceCube previously picked up of astrophysical tau neutrinos.
In particular, the detection of astrophysical tau neutrinos confirms that energetic neutrinos from distant sources change flavor, or oscillate.

As IceCube and other neutrino experiments gather more data, and scientists get better at distinguishing the three neutrino flavors, researchers will eventually be able to guess how neutrinos that come from black holes are produced.
There will always be fewer energetic tau neutrinos and their muon and electron cousins compared with the more common neutrinos that come from the Big Bang.

Doug Cowen receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

Huawei Unveils Three Innovative Data Center Facility Solutions at 2023 Global Smart Green Data Center Summit

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

ULANQAB, China, July 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2023 Global Smart Green Data Center Summit took place on July 4th in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia.

Key Points:

ULANQAB, China, July 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2023 Global Smart Green Data Center Summit took place on July 4th in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia.
One highlight of the event was the unveiling of Huawei's three innovative data center facility solutions.
Fei Zhenfu, President of Huawei Data Center Facility Domain, unveiled the next-generation indirect evaporative cooling solution EHU and the mobile intelligent management solution iManager-M.
These scenario-based data center solutions promise optimal reliability throughout the lifecycle and aim to drive the high-quality development of the data center industry.

First ever view of the Milky Way seen through the lens of neutrino particles

Retrieved on:

Friday, June 30, 2023

Data collected by an observatory in Antarctica has produced our first view of the Milky Way galaxy through the lens of neutrino particles.

Key Points:

Data collected by an observatory in Antarctica has produced our first view of the Milky Way galaxy through the lens of neutrino particles.
It’s the first time we have seen our galaxy “painted” with a particle, rather than in different wavelengths of light.
It has been speculated since antiquity that the Milky Way we see arching across the night sky consists of stars like our Sun.

Opening windows

Subsequently, as new astronomical windows have opened on to the sky, we have seen our galactic home in many different wavelengths of light –- in radio waves, in various infrared bands, in X-rays and in gamma-rays.
Neutrinos are emitted from our galaxy when cosmic rays collide with interstellar matter.
We do not yet definitively know all their sources, as their travel directions are scrambled by magnetic fields that exist in the space between stars.

Deep in the ice

Neutrinos can act as unique tracers of cosmic ray interactions deep in the Milky Way.
However, the ghostly particles are also generated when cosmic rays hit the Earth’s atmosphere.
The researchers focused on a type of neutrino interaction in the ice called a cascade.
These result in roughly spherical showers of light and give the researchers a better level of sensitivity to the astrophysical neutrinos from the Milky Way.

A neutrino portrait of our galaxy reveals high-energy particles from within the Milky Way

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 29, 2023

For the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos – tiny, ghost-like astronomical messengers.

Key Points:

For the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos – tiny, ghost-like astronomical messengers.
We have not yet figured out exactly where in our galaxy these particles are coming from.

Neutrino astronomy

This makes them very interesting to astronomers, because neutrinos offer a window into the extreme cosmic environments that create another kind of particle called cosmic rays.
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that permeate our Universe, but their origins are difficult to pin down.
So if we can detect the path of neutrinos arriving at Earth, this will point back to where the neutrinos were created.

How to hunt neutrinos

It uses more than 5,000 light sensors arrayed throughout a cubic kilometre of pristine Antarctic ice to search for signs of high-energy neutrinos from our galaxy and beyond.
Vast numbers of neutrinos are streaming through Earth all the time, but only a tiny fraction of them bump into anything on their way through.
This is because some flashes IceCube detected can be traced to cosmic rays hitting Earth’s atmosphere, which create neutrinos and other particles called muons.

Closing in on cosmic rays

The new neutrino lens on our galaxy will help reveal where the most powerful accelerators of galactic cosmic rays are located.
We hope to learn how energetic these particles can get, and the inner workings of these high-energy galactic engines.
They plan to estimate the flux of neutrinos produced by cosmic rays interacting in the clouds, after the neutrinos travel from the accelerators.

IceCube neutrino detector in Antarctica spots first high-energy neutrinos emitted in our own Milky Way galaxy

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Technology, Travel, Paint, Technical University of Dortmund, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, Drexel University, Achievement, Portrait, Ice, Machine learning, Map, Clutch (eggs), Telescope, Galaxy, Mineral oil, Phosphorus, Science

They are created in extreme environments like those surrounding massive black holes, and they travel unhindered through space and matter in a straight path.

Key Points:

They are created in extreme environments like those surrounding massive black holes, and they travel unhindered through space and matter in a straight path.
Neutrinos are another type of cosmic messenger, but they’re too small to be seen with our eyes, or even most types of telescopes.
The observatory, based in Antarctica, is made of up of a billion tons of ice equipped with a grid of frozen-in sensors.

Detecting neutrinos using ice

Only a few hundred of the hundred thousand neutrinos seen each year are from galactic or extragalactic sources rather than cosmic rays.
Their work on IceCube’s detection of the first Milky Way neutrinos was published in Science on June 29, 2023.
Scientists can use a few tricks to filter neutrinos from outer space from cosmic ray neutrinos and other cosmic ray noise.
Researchers can also look for clusters of neutrinos, because neutrinos from outside our galaxy tend to clump together in one location.

Searching for a neutrino’s source

Improving the analysis to determine the specific location of neutrino emission is the next step.
There are a few ways to improve the hunt for the sources.
First, the longer scientists look and the more data they collect, the more likely they are to pinpoint a neutrino’s source – but to improve by a factor of 10 takes 100 times more data.
Once the upgrade finishes in the 2030s, scientists will be able to continue their search for neutrinos with improved technology.

ColdQuanta Expands Executive Team with Appointment of Photonics and Software Technologists

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Chris and Alex join ColdQuanta's growing leadership team guiding the company as it commercializes its innovative quantum technologies.

Key Points:

Chris and Alex join ColdQuanta's growing leadership team guiding the company as it commercializes its innovative quantum technologies.
"ColdQuanta is at an inflection point as the company brings its technologies to market and drives the global quantum ecosystem," said Scott Faris, ColdQuanta CEO.
Prior to ColdQuanta, Chris served in various executive roles at Insight Lidar, Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories (KLM) Inc., and Precision Photonics.
The name ColdQuanta and the ColdQuanta logo are both registered trademarks of ColdQuanta, Inc.
View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coldquanta-expands-executive-te...

Neutrino Energy Dedicated More Than Ever to a Better Future

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Particle physics, Physics, Physical sciences, Neutrino astronomy, Neutrinos, Dark matter, Elementary particles, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, University of Wisconsin–Madison, KM3NeT, Sterile neutrino

With new upgrades to the IceCube neutrino detector in Antarctica, however, scientists might finally get closer to the secrets of the Zee burst and what it means for the future of neutrino energy.

Key Points:

With new upgrades to the IceCube neutrino detector in Antarctica, however, scientists might finally get closer to the secrets of the Zee burst and what it means for the future of neutrino energy.
Neutrino Energy Group remains dedicated to understanding why neutrinos have mass and how these ghostly particles work.
That means neutrino scientists will be searching particles here on Earth for signs of this postulated neutrino burst for the foreseeable future.
As a collaboration between scientists in Germany, the U.S.and beyond, Neutrino Energy Group represents the cutting edge of alternative energy science.

Quality Uptime Services Sponsors The 'Most Extreme Data Center' DCD Global Award

Retrieved on:

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Concurrent computing, Distributed computing, Computing, Data management, Distributed data storage, Cloud storage, Computer networking, Data center, IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The award will be presented during the 2018 DCD Global Awards , an industry awards ceremony designed to highlight the "great people and excellent projects" in the data center industry.

Key Points:

The award will be presented during the 2018 DCD Global Awards , an industry awards ceremony designed to highlight the "great people and excellent projects" in the data center industry.
From an IceCube Lab in Antarctica to Bluebird Underground Data Center in Springfield, Missouri, VOTE for your extreme data center.
This year's nominations are fascinating, and we look forward to meeting the winner at the DCD Award gala in London," said John Raio, President at Quality Uptime Services.
Quality Uptime Services provides UPS and battery preventive maintenance services with a team of factory-trained field service engineers.

NASA's Fermi Traces Source of Cosmic Neutrino to Monster Black Hole

Retrieved on:

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Physics, Particle physics, Nature, Neutrino astronomy, Neutrinos, Astroparticle physics, Dark matter, Exotic matter, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, Neutrino, Cosmic ray, Gamma ray

The neutrino was discovered by an international team of scientists using the National Science Foundation's IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the AmundsenScott South Pole Station.

Key Points:

The neutrino was discovered by an international team of scientists using the National Science Foundation's IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the AmundsenScott South Pole Station.
Fermi found the source of the neutrino by tracing its path back to a blast of gamma-ray light from a distant supermassive black hole in the constellation Orion.
Scientists study neutrinos, as well as cosmic rays and gamma rays, to understand what is going on in turbulent cosmic environments such as supernovas, black holes and stars.
But, scientists rely on gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, to brightly flag what cosmic source is producing these neutrinos and cosmic rays.