First search for atmospheric and extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades with the IceCube detector

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.84.072001· OSTI ID:21607741

Abbasi, R; Aguilar, J A; Andeen, K; Baker, M; BenZvi, S; Berghaus, P; Braun, J; Chirkin, D; Desiati, P; Diaz-Velez, J C; Dumm, J P; Eisch, J; Gladstone, L; Grullon, S; Halzen, F; Hill, G C; Hoshina, K; Jacobsen, J; Karle, A; Kelley, J L ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

We report on the first search for atmospheric and for diffuse astrophysical neutrino-induced showers (cascades) in the IceCube detector using 257 days of data collected in the year 2007-2008 with 22 strings active. A total of 14 events with energies above 16 TeV remained after event selections in the diffuse analysis, with an expected total background contribution of 8.3{+-}3.6. At 90% confidence we set an upper limit of E{sup 2}{Phi}{sub 90%CL}<3.6x10{sup -7} GeV{center_dot}cm{sup -2}{center_dot}s{sup -1}{center_dot}sr{sup -1} on the diffuse flux of neutrinos of all flavors in the energy range between 24 TeV and 6.6 PeV assuming that {Phi}{proportional_to}E{sup -2} and the flavor composition of the {nu}{sub e} ratio {nu}{sub {mu}} ratio {nu}{sub {tau}} flux is 1 ratio 1 ratio 1 at the Earth. The atmospheric neutrino analysis was optimized for lower energies. A total of 12 events were observed with energies above 5 TeV. The observed number of events is consistent with the expected background, within the uncertainties.

• OSTI ID: 21607741
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 84, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.072001; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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