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Search for Astrophysical Sources of Neutrinos Using Cascade Events in IceCube

  • M. G. Aartsen
  • , M. Ackermann
  • , J. Adams
  • , J. A. Aguilar
  • , M. Ahlers
  • , M. Ahrens
  • , I. Al Samarai
  • , D. Altmann
  • , K. Andeen
  • , T. Anderson
  • , I. Ansseau
  • , G. Anton
  • , C. Argüelles
  • , J. Auffenberg
  • , S. Axani
  • , H. Bagherpour
  • , X. Bai
  • , S. W. Barwick
  • , V. Baum
  • , R. Bay
  • J. J. Beatty, J. Becker Tjus, K. H. Becker, S. Benzvi, D. Berley, E. Bernardini, D. Z. Besson, G. Binder, D. Bindig, E. Blaufuss, S. Blot, C. Bohm, M. Börner, F. Bos, D. Bose, S. Böser, O. Botner, J. Bourbeau, F. Bradascio, J. Braun, L. Brayeur, M. Brenzke, H. P. Bretz, S. Bron, A. Burgman, T. Carver, J. Casey, M. Casier, E. Cheung, D. Chirkin, A. Christov, K. Clark, L. Classen, S. Coenders, G. H. Collin, J. M. Conrad, D. F. Cowen, R. Cross, M. Day, J. P.A.M. De André, C. De Clercq, J. J. Delaunay, H. Dembinski, S. De Ridder, P. Desiati, K. D. De Vries, G. De Wasseige, M. De With, T. Deyoung, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, V. Di Lorenzo, H. Dujmovic, J. P. Dumm, M. Dunkman, B. Eberhardt, T. Ehrhardt, B. Eichmann, P. Eller, P. A. Evenson, S. Fahey, A. R. Fazely, J. Felde, K. Filimonov, C. Finley, S. Flis, A. Franckowiak, E. Friedman, T. Fuchs, T. K. Gaisser, J. Gallagher, L. Gerhardt, K. Ghorbani, W. Giang, T. Glauch, T. Glüsenkamp, A. Goldschmidt, J. G. Gonzalez, D. Grant, Z. Griffith, C. Haack, A. Hallgren, F. Halzen, K. Hanson, D. Hebecker, D. Heereman, K. Helbing, R. Hellauer, S. Hickford, J. Hignight, G. C. Hill, K. D. Hoffman, R. Hoffmann, B. Hokanson-Fasig, K. Hoshina, F. Huang, M. Huber, K. Hultqvist, S. In, A. Ishihara, E. Jacobi, G. S. Japaridze, M. Jeong, K. Jero, B. J.P. Jones, P. Kalacynski, W. Kang, A. Kappes, T. Karg, A. Karle, U. Katz, M. Kauer, A. Keivani, J. L. Kelley, A. Kheirandish, J. Kim, M. Kim, T. Kintscher, J. Kiryluk, T. Kittler, S. R. Klein, G. Kohnen, R. Koirala, H. Kolanoski, L. Köpke, C. Kopper, S. Kopper, J. P. Koschinsky, D. J. Koskinen, M. Kowalski, K. Krings, M. Kroll, G. Krückl, J. Kunnen, S. Kunwar, N. Kurahashi, T. Kuwabara, A. Kyriacou, M. Labare, J. L. Lanfranchi, M. J. Larson, F. Lauber, D. Lennarz, M. Lesiak-Bzdak, M. Leuermann, Q. R. Liu, L. Lu, J. Lünemann, W. Luszczak, J. Madsen, G. Maggi, K. B.M. Mahn, S. Mancina, R. Maruyama, K. Mase, R. Maunu, F. McNally, K. Meagher, M. Medici, M. Meier, T. Menne, G. Merino, T. Meures, S. Miarecki, J. Micallef, G. Momenté, T. Montaruli, M. Moulai, R. Nahnhauer, P. Nakarmi, U. Naumann, G. Neer, H. Niederhausen, S. C. Nowicki, D. R. Nygren, A. Obertacke Pollmann, A. Olivas, A. O'Murchadha, T. Palczewski, H. Pandya, D. V. Pankova, P. Peiffer, J. A. Pepper, C. Pérez De Los Heros, D. Pieloth, E. Pinat, M. Plum, P. B. Price, G. T. Przybylski, C. Raab, L. Rädel, M. Rameez, K. Rawlins, R. Reimann, B. Relethford, M. Relich, E. Resconi, W. Rhode, M. Richman, B. Riedel, S. Robertson, M. Rongen, C. Rott, T. Ruhe, D. Ryckbosch, D. Rysewyk, T. Sälzer, S. E. Sanchez Herrera, A. Sandrock, J. Sandroos, S. Sarkar, K. Satalecka, P. Schlunder, T. Schmidt, A. Schneider, S. Schoenen, S. Schöneberg, L. Schumacher, D. Seckel, S. Seunarine, D. Soldin, M. Song, G. M. Spiczak, C. Spiering, J. Stachurska, T. Stanev, A. Stasik, J. Stettner, A. Steuer, T. Stezelberger, R. G. Stokstad, A. Stößl, N. L. Strotjohann, G. W. Sullivan, M. Sutherland, I. Taboada, J. Tatar, F. Tenholt, S. Ter-Antonyan, A. Terliuk, G. Tešić, S. Tilav, P. A. Toale, M. N. Tobin, S. Toscano, D. Tosi, M. Tselengidou, C. F. Tung, A. Turcati, C. F. Turley, B. Ty, E. Unger, M. Usner, J. Vandenbroucke, W. Van Driessche, N. Van Eijndhoven, S. Vanheule, J. Van Santen, M. Vehring, E. Vogel, M. Vraeghe, C. Walck, A. Wallace, M. Wallraff, N. Wandkowsky, A. Waza, C. Weaver, M. J. Weiss, C. Wendt, S. Westerhoff, B. J. Whelan, S. Wickmann, K. Wiebe, C. H. Wiebusch, L. Wille, D. R. Williams, L. Wills, M. Wolf, J. Wood, T. R. Wood, E. Woolsey, K. Woschnagg, D. L. Xu, X. W. Xu, Y. Xu, J. P. Yanez, G. Yodh, S. Yoshida, T. Yuan, M. Zoll
  • Adelaide University
  • German Electron Synchrotron
  • University of Canterbury
  • Université libre de Bruxelles
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Stockholm University
  • University of Geneva
  • Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Marquette University
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • RWTH Aachen University
  • South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
  • University of California at Irvine
  • Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Ohio State University
  • Ruhr University Bochum
  • University of Wuppertal
  • University of Rochester
  • University of Maryland, College Park
  • University of Kansas
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • TU Dortmund University
  • Sungkyunkwan University
  • Uppsala University
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  • SNOLAB
  • University of Münster
  • Technical University of Munich
  • Michigan State University
  • University of Delaware
  • Ghent University
  • Humboldt University of Berlin
  • Southern University and A&M College
  • University of Alberta
  • The University of Tokyo
  • Chiba University
  • Clark Atlanta University
  • University of Texas at Arlington
  • Universite de Mons
  • University of Alabama
  • Drexel University
  • Stony Brook University
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls
  • Yale University
  • University of Alaska Anchorage
  • University of Oxford
  • Georgia Institute of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

The IceCube neutrino observatory has established the existence of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, which is inconsistent with the expectation from atmospheric backgrounds at a significance greater than 5σ. This flux has been observed in analyses of both track events from muon neutrino interactions and cascade events from interactions of all neutrino flavors. Searches for astrophysical neutrino sources have focused on track events due to the significantly better angular resolution of track reconstructions. To date, no such sources have been confirmed. Here we present the first search for astrophysical neutrino sources using cascades interacting in IceCube with deposited energies as small as 1 TeV. No significant clustering was observed in a selection of 263 cascades collected from 2010 May to 2012 May. We show that compared to the classic approach using tracks, this statistically independent search offers improved sensitivity to sources in the southern sky, especially if the emission is spatially extended or follows a soft energy spectrum. This enhancement is due to the low background from atmospheric neutrinos forming cascade events and the additional veto of atmospheric neutrinos at declinations ≲-30.

Original languageEnglish
Article number136
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume846
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 10 2017

Keywords

  • astroparticle physics
  • neutrinos

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