Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 40-string detector

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.84.082001· OSTI ID:21607847

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

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

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a 1 km{sup 3} detector currently taking data at the South Pole. One of the main strategies used to look for astrophysical neutrinos with IceCube is the search for a diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos from unresolved sources. A hard energy spectrum of neutrinos from isotropically distributed astrophysical sources could manifest itself as a detectable signal that may be differentiated from the atmospheric neutrino background by spectral measurement. This analysis uses data from the IceCube detector collected in its half completed configuration which operated between April 2008 and May 2009 to search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos. A total of 12 877 upward-going candidate neutrino events have been selected for this analysis. No evidence for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos was found in the data set leading to a 90% C.L. upper limit on the normalization of an E{sup -2} astrophysical {nu}{sub {mu}} flux of 8.9x10{sup -9} GeV cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1}. The analysis is sensitive in the energy range between 35 TeV and 7 PeV. The 12 877 candidate neutrino events are consistent with atmospheric muon neutrinos measured from 332 GeV to 84 TeV and no evidence for a prompt component to the atmospheric neutrino spectrum is found.

• OSTI ID: 21607847
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 84; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ASTROPHYSICS
CONFIGURATION
DETECTION
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
ENERGY SPECTRA
FERMIONS
GEV RANGE
GEV RANGE 100-1000
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MUON NEUTRINOS
NEUTRINO DETECTION
NEUTRINOS
PEV RANGE
PHYSICS
RADIATION DETECTION
SPECTRA
TEV RANGE