Prof Subir Sarkar: Publications

IceCube

IceCube at Oxford

I am a member since 2004 of the IceCube collaboration which discovered cosmic high energy neutrinos and identified some of their astrophysical sources.

IceCube @ Oxford

Search for Neutrinos from Annihilating Dark Matter in the Direction of the Galactic Center with the 40-String IceCube Neutrino Observatory

ArXiv 1210.3557 (2012)

Authors:

The IceCube collaboration, R Abbasi, Y Abdou, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, D Altmann, K Andeen, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, V Baum, R Bay, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, J Becker Tjus, K-H Becker, M Bell, ML Benabderrahmane, S BenZvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, L Brayeur, AM Brown, R Bruijn, J Brunner, S Buitink, M Carson, J Casey, M Casier, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, F Descamps, P Desiati, G de Vries Uiterweerd, T DeYoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, R Eagan, J Eisch, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegård, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, S Flis, A Franckowiak, R Franke, K Frantzen, T Fuchs, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, A Groß, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Hanson, D Heereman, P Heimann, D Heinen, K Helbing, R Hellauer, S Hickford, GC Hill, KD Hoffman, R Hoffmann, A Homeier, K Hoshina, J-P Hülß, W Huelsnitz, PO Hulth, K Hultqvist, S Hussain, A Ishihara, E Jacobi, J Jacobsen, GS Japaridze, O Jlelati, A Kappes, T Karg, A Karle, J Kiryluk, F Kislat, J Kläs, SR Klein, J-H Köhne, G Kohnen, H Kolanoski, L Köpke, C Kopper, S Kopper, DJ Koskinen, M Kowalski, M Krasberg, G Kroll, J Kunnen, N Kurahashi, T Kuwabara, M Labare, K Laihem, H Landsman, MJ Larson, R Lauer, M Lesiak-Bzdak, J Lünemann, J Madsen, R Maruyama, K Mase, HS Matis, F McNally, K Meagher, M Merck, P Mészáros, T Meures, S Miarecki, E Middell, N Milke, J Miller, L Mohrmann, T Montaruli, R Morse, SM Movit, R Nahnhauer, U Naumann, SC Nowicki, DR Nygren, A Obertacke, S Odrowski, A Olivas, M Olivo, A O'Murchadha, S Panknin, L Paul, JA Pepper, C Pérez de los Heros, D Pieloth, N Pirk, J Posselt, PB Price, GT Przybylski, L Rädel, K Rawlins, P Redl, E Resconi, W Rhode, M Ribordy, M Richman, B Riedel, JP Rodrigues, F Rothmaier, C Rott, T Ruhe, B Ruzybayev, D Ryckbosch, SM Saba, T Salameh, H-G Sander, M Santander, S Sarkar, K Schatto, M Scheel, F Scheriau, T Schmidt, M Schmitz, S Schoenen, S Schöneberg, L Schönherr, A Schönwald, A Schukraft, L Schulte, O Schulz, D Seckel, SH Seo, Y Sestayo, S Seunarine, MWE Smith, M Soiron, D Soldin, GM Spiczak, C Spiering, M Stamatikos, T Stanev, A Stasik, T Stezelberger, RG Stokstad, A Stößl, EA Strahler, R Ström, GW Sullivan, H Taavola, I Taboada, A Tamburro, S Ter-Antonyan, S Tilav, PA Toale, S Toscano, M Usner, D van der Drift, N van Eijndhoven, A Van Overloop, J van Santen, M Vehring, M Voge, C Walck, T Waldenmaier, M Wallraff, M Walter, R Wasserman, Ch Weaver, C Wendt, S Westerhoff, N Whitehorn, K Wiebe, CH Wiebusch, DR Williams, H Wissing, M Wolf, TR Wood, K Woschnagg, C Xu, DL Xu, XW Xu, JP Yanez, G Yodh, S Yoshida, P Zarzhitsky, J Ziemann, A Zilles, M Zoll

Abstract:

A search for muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Galactic Center region has been performed with the 40-string configuration of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory using data collected in 367 days of live-time starting in April 2008. The observed fluxes were consistent with the atmospheric background expectations. Upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section are obtained for dark matter particle masses ranging from 100 GeV to 10 TeV. In the case of decaying dark matter, lower limits on the lifetime have been determined for masses between 200 GeV and 20 TeV.

Searches for high-energy neutrino emission in the Galaxy with the combined IceCube-AMANDA detector

ArXiv 1210.3273 (2012)

Authors:

IceCube collaboration, R Abbasi, Y Abdou, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, D Altmann, K Andeen, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, V Baum, R Bay, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, J Becker Tjus, K-H Becker, M Bell, ML Benabderrahmane, S BenZvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, L Brayeur, AM Brown, R Bruijn, J Brunner, S Buitink, M Carson, J Casey, M Casier, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, F Descamps, P Desiati, G de Vries Uiterweerd, T DeYoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, R Eagan, J Eisch, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegård, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, S Flis, A Franckowiak, R Franke, K Frantzen, T Fuchs, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, A Groß, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Hanson, D Heereman, P Heimann, D Heinen, K Helbing, R Hellauer, S Hickford, GC Hill, KD Hoffman, R Hoffmann, A Homeier, K Hoshina, W Huelsnitz, PO Hulth, K Hultqvist, S Hussain, A Ishihara, E Jacobi, J Jacobsen, GS Japaridze, O Jlelati, A Kappes, T Karg, A Karle, J Kiryluk, F Kislat, J Kläs, SR Klein, J-H Köhne, G Kohnen, H Kolanoski, L Köpke, C Kopper, S Kopper, DJ Koskinen, M Kowalski, M Krasberg, G Kroll, J Kunnen, N Kurahashi, T Kuwabara, M Labare, K Laihem, H Landsman, MJ Larson, R Lauer, M Lesiak-Bzdak, J Lünemann, J Madsen, R Maruyama, K Mase, HS Matis, F McNally, K Meagher, M Merck, P Mészáros, T Meures, S Miarecki, E Middell, N Milke, J Miller, L Mohrmann, T Montaruli, R Morse, SM Movit, R Nahnhauer, U Naumann, SC Nowicki, DR Nygren, A Obertacke, S Odrowski, A Olivas, M Olivo, A O'Murchadha, S Panknin, L Paul, JA Pepper, C Pérez de los Heros, D Pieloth, N Pirk, J Posselt, PB Price, GT Przybylski, L Rädel, K Rawlins, P Redl, E Resconi, W Rhode, M Ribordy, M Richman, B Riedel, JP Rodrigues, F Rothmaier, C Rott, T Ruhe, B Ruzybayev, D Ryckbosch, SM Saba, T Salameh, H-G Sander, M Santander, S Sarkar, K Schatto, M Scheel, F Scheriau, T Schmidt, M Schmitz, S Schoenen, S Schöneberg, L Schönherr, A Schönwald, A Schukraft, L Schulte, O Schulz, D Seckel, SH Seo, Y Sestayo, S Seunarine, MWE Smith, M Soiron, D Soldin, GM Spiczak, C Spiering, M Stamatikos, T Stanev, A Stasik, T Stezelberger, RG Stokstad, A Stößl, EA Strahler, R Ström, GW Sullivan, H Taavola, I Taboada, A Tamburro, S Ter-Antonyan, S Tilav, PA Toale, S Toscano, M Usner, D van der Drift, N van Eijndhoven, A Van Overloop, J van Santen, M Vehring, M Voge, C Walck, T Waldenmaier, M Wallraff, M Walter, R Wasserman, Ch Weaver, C Wendt, S Westerhoff, N Whitehorn, K Wiebe, CH Wiebusch, DR Williams, H Wissing, M Wolf, TR Wood, K Woschnagg, C Xu, DL Xu, XW Xu, JP Yanez, G Yodh, S Yoshida, P Zarzhitsky, J Ziemann, A Zilles, M Zoll

Abstract:

We report on searches for neutrino sources at energies above 200 GeV in the Northern sky of the galactic plane, using the data collected by the South Pole neutrino telescopes IceCube and AMANDA. The galactic region considered here includes the Local Arm towards the Cygnus region and our closest approach to the Perseus Arm. The data have been collected between 2007 and 2009 when AMANDA was an integrated part of IceCube, which was still under construction and operated with 22-strings (2007-8) and 40-strings (2008-9) of optical modules deployed in the ice. By combining the larger IceCube detector with the lower energy threshold of the more compact AMANDA detector, we obtain an improved sensitivity at energies below $\sim$10 TeV with respect to previous searches. The analyses presented here are: a scan for point sources within the galactic plane; a search optimized for multiple and extended sources in the Cygnus region, which might be below the sensitivity of the point source scan; and studies of seven pre-selected neutrino source candidates. For one of them, Cygnus X-3, a time-dependent search for neutrinos in coincidence with observed radio and X-ray flares has been performed. No evidence of a signal is found, and upper limits are reported for each of the searches. We investigate neutrino spectra proportional to E$^{-2}$ and E$^{-3}$ to cover the entire range of possible spectra. The soft E$^{-3}$ spectrum results in an energy distribution similar to a source with cut-off below $\sim$50 TeV. For the considered region of the galactic plane, the 90% confidence level muon neutrino flux upper limits are in the range E$^3$dN/dE$\sim 5.4 - 19.5 \times 10^{-11} \rm{TeV^{2} cm^{-2} s^{-1}}$ for point-like neutrino sources in the energy region [180.0 GeV - 20.5 TeV]. These represent the most stringent upper limits for soft-spectra neutrino sources within the Galaxy reported to date.

Antennas for the Detection of Radio Emission Pulses from Cosmic-Ray induced Air Showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

ArXiv 1209.384 (2012)

Authors:

P Abreu, M Aglietta, M Ahlers, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almela, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, R Alves Batista, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antičić, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, AM Badescu, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, C Baus, JJ Beatty, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, MM Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, I Brancus, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, L Buroker, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, B Caccianiga, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, M Cilmo, RW Clay, G Cocciolo, L Collica, MR Coluccia, R Conceição, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, B Daniel, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, SJ de Jong, G De La Vega, WJM de Mello Junior, JRT de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, KD de Vries, L del Peral, M del Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, C Di Giulio, ML Díaz Castro, PN Diep, F Diogo, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JC dos Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, H Falcke, G Farrar, AC Fauth, N Fazzini, AP Ferguson, B Fick, JM Figueira, A Filevich, A Filipčič, S Fliescher, CE Fracchiolla, ED Fraenkel, O Fratu, U Fröhlich, B Fuchs, R Gaior, RF Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, ST Garcia Roca, D Garcia-Gamez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon Bravo, H Gemmeke, PL Ghia, M Giller, J Gitto, H Glass, MS Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, PF Gómez Vitale, P Gonçalves, JG Gonzalez, B Gookin, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, E Grashorn, S Grebe, N Griffith, M Grigat, AF Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, GP Guedes, P Hansen, D Harari, TA Harrison, JL Harton, A Haungs, T Hebbeker, D Heck, AE Herve, C Hojvat, N Hollon, VC Holmes, P Homola, JR Hörandel, P Horvath, M Hrabovský, D Huber, T Huege, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, S Jansen, C Jarne, S Jiraskova, M Josebachuili, K Kadija, KH Kampert, P Karhan, P Kasper, I Katkov, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, A Keivani, JL Kelley, E Kemp, RM Kieckhafer, HO Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, J Knapp, D-H Koang, K Kotera, N Krohm, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, D Kuempel, JK Kulbartz, N Kunka, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, D LaHurd, L Latronico, R Lauer, P Lautridou, S Le Coz, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, MA Leigui de Oliveira, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano Bahilo, L Lu, A Lucero, M Ludwig, H Lyberis, MC Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, J Maller, D Mandat, P Mantsch, AG Mariazzi, J Marin, V Marin, IC Maris, HR Marquez Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, O Martínez Bravo, D Martraire, JJ Masías Meza, HJ Mathes, J Matthews, JAJ Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurel, D Maurizio, PO Mazur, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, P Mertsch, C Meurer, R Meyhandan, S Mićanović, MI Micheletti, IA Minaya, L Miramonti, L Molina-Bueno, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, E Moreno, JC Moreno, M Mostafá, CA Moura, MA Muller, G Müller, M Münchmeyer, R Mussa, G Navarra, JL Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, A Nelles, J Neuser, PT Nhung, M Niechciol, L Niemietz, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pȩkala, R Pelayo, IM Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, C Pfendner, R Piegaia, T Pierog, P Pieroni, M Pimenta, V Pirronello, M Platino, M Plum, VH Ponce, M Pontz, A Porcelli, P Privitera, M Prouza, EJ Quel, S Querchfeld, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, B Revenu, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, P Ristori, H Rivera, V Rizi, J Roberts, W Rodrigues de Carvalho, G Rodriguez, I Rodriguez Cabo, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, MD Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, AC Rovero, C Rühle, A Saftoiu, F Salamida, H Salazar, F Salesa Greus, G Salina, F Sánchez, CE Santo, E Santos, EM Santos, F Sarazin, B Sarkar, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schröder, S Schulte, D Schuster, SJ Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, M Settimo, A Shadkam, RC Shellard, I Sidelnik, G Sigl, HH Silva Lopez, O Sima, A Śmiałkowski, R Šmída, GR Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, YN Srivastava, S Stanic, J Stapleton, J Stasielak, M Stephan, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, AD Supanitsky, T Šuša, MS Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, M Szuba, A Tapia, M Tartare, O Taşcău, R Tcaciuc, NT Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, W Tkaczyk, CJ Todero Peixoto, G Toma, L Tomankova, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JF Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, G van Aar, AM van den Berg, A van Vliet, E Varela, B Vargas Cárdenas, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Walz, AA Watson, M Weber, K Weidenhaupt, A Weindl, F Werner, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, A Widom, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, M Will, C Williams, T Winchen, M Wommer, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, T Yapici, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, B Zamorano Garcia, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, J Zhou, Y Zhu, M Zimbres Silva, M Ziolkowski, D Charrier, L Denis, G Hilgers, L Mohrmann, B Philipps, O Seeger

Abstract:

The Pierre Auger Observatory is exploring the potential of the radio detection technique to study extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) addresses both technological and scientific aspects of the radio technique. A first phase of AERA has been operating since September 2010 with detector stations observing radio signals at frequencies between 30 and 80 MHz. In this paper we present comparative studies to identify and optimize the antenna design for the final configuration of AERA consisting of 160 individual radio detector stations. The transient nature of the air shower signal requires a detailed description of the antenna sensor. As the ultra-wideband reception of pulses is not widely discussed in antenna literature, we review the relevant antenna characteristics and enhance theoretical considerations towards the impulse response of antennas including polarization effects and multiple signal reflections. On the basis of the vector effective length we study the transient response characteristics of three candidate antennas in the time domain. Observing the variation of the continuous galactic background intensity we rank the antennas with respect to the noise level added to the galactic signal.

Search for Relativistic Magnetic Monopoles with IceCube

ArXiv 1208.4861 (2012)

Authors:

IceCube Collaboration, R Abbasi, Y Abdou, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, D Altmann, K Andeen, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, V Baum, R Bay, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, J Becker Tjus, K-H Becker, M Bell, ML Benabderrahmane, S BenZvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, L Brayeur, AM Brown, R Bruijn, J Brunner, S Buitink, M Carson, J Casey, M Casier, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, F Descamps, P Desiati, G de Vries-Uiterweerd, T DeYoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, R Eagan, J Eisch, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegård, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, S Flis, A Franckowiak, R Franke, K Frantzen, T Fuchs, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, A Groß, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Hanson, D Heereman, P Heimann, D Heinen, K Helbing, R Hellauer, S Hickford, GC Hill, KD Hoffman, R Hoffmann, A Homeier, K Hoshina, W Huelsnitz, PO Hulth, K Hultqvist, S Hussain, A Ishihara, E Jacobi, J Jacobsen, GS Japaridze, O Jlelati, A Kappes, T Karg, A Karle, J Kiryluk, F Kislat, J Kläs, SR Klein, J-H Köhne, G Kohnen, H Kolanoski, L Köpke, C Kopper, S Kopper, DJ Koskinen, M Kowalski, M Krasberg, G Kroll, J Kunnen, N Kurahashi, T Kuwabara, M Labare, K Laihem, H Landsman, MJ Larson, R Lauer, M Lesiak-Bzdak, J Lünemann, J Madsen, R Maruyama, K Mase, HS Matis, F McNally, K Meagher, M Merck, P Mészáros, T Meures, S Miarecki, E Middell, N Milke, J Miller, L Mohrmann, T Montaruli, R Morse, SM Movit, R Nahnhauer, U Naumann, SC Nowicki, DR Nygren, A Obertacke, S Odrowski, A Olivas, M Olivo, A O'Murchadha, S Panknin, L Paul, JA Pepper, C Pérez de los Heros, D Pieloth, N Pirk, J Posselt, PB Price, GT Przybylski, L Rädel, K Rawlins, P Redl, E Resconi, W Rhode, M Ribordy, M Richman, B Riedel, JP Rodrigues, F Rothmaier, C Rott, T Ruhe, B Ruzybayev, D Ryckbosch, SM Saba, T Salameh, H-G Sander, M Santander, S Sarkar, K Schatto, M Scheel, F Scheriau, T Schmidt, M Schmitz, S Schoenen, S Schöneberg, L Schönherr, A Schönwald, A Schukraft, L Schulte, O Schulz, D Seckel, SH Seo, Y Sestayo, S Seunarine, MWE Smith, M Soiron, D Soldin, GM Spiczak, C Spiering, M Stamatikos, T Stanev, A Stasik, T Stezelberger, RG Stokstad, A Stößl, EA Strahler, R Ström, GW Sullivan, H Taavola, I Taboada, A Tamburro, S Ter-Antonyan, S Tilav, PA Toale, S Toscano, M Usner, D van der Drift, N van Eijndhoven, A Van Overloop, J van Santen, M Vehring, M Voge, C Walck, T Waldenmaier, M Wallraff, M Walter, R Wasserman, Ch Weaver, C Wendt, S Westerhoff, N Whitehorn, K Wiebe, CH Wiebusch, DR Williams, H Wissing, M Wolf, TR Wood, K Woschnagg, C Xu, DL Xu, XW Xu, JP Yanez, G Yodh, S Yoshida, P Zarzhitsky, J Ziemann, A Zilles, M Zoll

Abstract:

We present the first results in the search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with the IceCube detector, a subsurface neutrino telescope located in the South Polar ice cap containing a volume of 1 km$^{3}$. This analysis searches data taken on the partially completed detector during 2007 when roughly 0.2 km$^{3}$ of ice was instrumented. The lack of candidate events leads to an upper limit on the flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles of $Φ_{\mathrm{90%C.L.}}\sim 3\e{-18}\fluxunits$ for $β\geq0.8$. This is a factor of 4 improvement over the previous best experimental flux limits up to a Lorentz boost $γ$ below $10^{7}$. This result is then interpreted for a wide range of mass and kinetic energy values.

An improved method for measuring muon energy using the truncated mean of dE/dx

ArXiv 1208.343 (2012)

Authors:

IceCube collaboration, R Abbasi, Y Abdou, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, D Altmann, K Andeen, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, V Baum, R Bay, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, J Becker Tjus, K-H Becker, M Bell, ML Benabderrahmane, S BenZvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, L Brayeur, AM Brown, R Bruijn, J Brunner, S Buitink, M Carson, J Casey, M Casier, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, F Descamps, P Desiati, G de Vries-Uiterweerd, T DeYoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, R Eagan, J Eisch, C Elliott, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegård, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, S Flis, A Franckowiak, R Franke, K Frantzen, T Fuchs, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, A Groß, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Hanson, D Heereman, P Heimann, D Heinen, K Helbing, R Hellauer, S Hickford, GC Hill, KD Hoffman, R Hoffmann, A Homeier, K Hoshina, W Huelsnitz, PO Hulth, K Hultqvist, S Hussain, A Ishihara, E Jacobi, J Jacobsen, GS Japaridze, O Jlelati, A Kappes, T Karg, A Karle, J Kiryluk, F Kislat, J Kläs, SR Klein, S Klepser, J-H Köhne, G Kohnen, H Kolanoski, L Köpke, C Kopper, S Kopper, DJ Koskinen, M Kowalski, M Krasberg, G Kroll, J Kunnen, N Kurahashi, T Kuwabara, M Labare, K Laihem, H Landsman, MJ Larson, R Lauer, M Lesiak-Bzdak, J Lünemann, J Madsen, R Maruyama, K Mase, HS Matis, A McDermott, F McNally, K Meagher, M Merck, P Mészáros, T Meures, S Miarecki, E Middell, N Milke, J Miller, L Mohrmann, T Montaruli, R Morse, SM Movit, R Nahnhauer, U Naumann, P Nießen, SC Nowicki, DR Nygren, A Obertacke, S Odrowski, A Olivas, M Olivo, A O'Murchadha, S Panknin, L Paul, JA Pepper, C Pérez de los Heros, D Pieloth, N Pirk, J Posselt, PB Price, GT Przybylski, L Rädel, K Rawlins, P Redl, E Resconi, W Rhode, M Ribordy, M Richman, B Riedel, JP Rodrigues, J Roth, F Rothmaier, C Rott, C Roucelle, T Ruhe, B Ruzybayev, D Ryckbosch, SM Saba, T Salameh, H-G Sander, M Santander, S Sarkar, K Schatto, M Scheel, F Scheriau, T Schmidt, M Schmitz, S Schoenen, S Schöneberg, L Schönherr, A Schönwald, A Schukraft, L Schulte, O Schulz, D Seckel, SH Seo, Y Sestayo, S Seunarine, L Shulman, MWE Smith, M Soiron, D Soldin, GM Spiczak, C Spiering, M Stamatikos, T Stanev, A Stasik, T Stezelberger, RG Stokstad, A Stößl, S Stoyanov, EA Strahler, R Ström, K-H Sulanke, GW Sullivan, H Taavola, I Taboada, A Tamburro, S Ter-Antonyan, S Tilav, PA Toale, S Toscano, M Usner, D van der Drift, N van Eijndhoven, A Van Overloop, J van Santen, M Vehring, M Voge, C Walck, T Waldenmaier, M Wallraff, M Walter, R Wasserman, Ch Weaver, C Wendt, S Westerhoff, N Whitehorn, K Wiebe, CH Wiebusch, DR Williams, H Wissing, M Wolf, TR Wood, K Woschnagg, C Xu, DL Xu, XW Xu, JP Yanez, G Yodh, S Yoshida, P Zarzhitsky, J Ziemann, A Zilles, M Zoll

Abstract:

The measurement of muon energy is critical for many analyses in large Cherenkov detectors, particularly those that involve separating extraterrestrial neutrinos from the atmospheric neutrino background. Muon energy has traditionally been determined by measuring the specific energy loss (dE/dx) along the muon's path and relating the dE/dx to the muon energy. Because high-energy muons (E_mu > 1 TeV) lose energy randomly, the spread in dE/dx values is quite large, leading to a typical energy resolution of 0.29 in log10(E_mu) for a muon observed over a 1 km path length in the IceCube detector. In this paper, we present an improved method that uses a truncated mean and other techniques to determine the muon energy. The muon track is divided into separate segments with individual dE/dx values. The elimination of segments with the highest dE/dx results in an overall dE/dx that is more closely correlated to the muon energy. This method results in an energy resolution of 0.22 in log10(E_mu), which gives a 26% improvement. This technique is applicable to any large water or ice detector and potentially to large scintillator or liquid argon detectors.

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