269 research outputs found
Neutrinos in IceCube/KM3NeT as probes of Dark Matter Substructures in Galaxy Clusters
Galaxy clusters are one of the most promising candidate sites for dark matter
annihilation. We focus on dark matter with mass in the range 10 GeV - 100 TeV
annihilating to muon pairs, neutrino pairs, top pairs, or two neutrino pairs,
and forecast the expected sensitivity to the annihilation cross section into
these channels by observing galaxy clusters at IceCube/KM3NeT. Optimistically,
the presence of dark matter substructures in galaxy clusters is predicted to
enhance the signal by 2-3 orders of magnitude over the contribution from the
smooth component of the dark matter distribution. Optimizing for the angular
size of the region of interest for galaxy clusters, the sensitivity to the
annihilation cross section of heavy DM with mass in the range 300 GeV - 100 TeV
will be of the order of 10^{-24} cm^3 s^{-1}, for full IceCube/KM3NeT live time
of 10 years, which is about one order of magnitude better than the best limit
that can be obtained by observing the Milky Way halo. We find that neutrinos
from cosmic ray interactions in the galaxy cluster, in addition to the
atmospheric neutrinos, are a source of background. We show that significant
improvement in the experimental sensitivity can be achieved for lower DM masses
in the range 10 GeV - 300 GeV if neutrino-induced cascades can be reconstructed
to approximately 5 degrees accuracy, as may be possible in KM3NeT. We therefore
propose that a low-energy extension "KM3NeT-Core", similar to DeepCore in
IceCube, be considered for an extended reach at low DM masses.Comment: v2: 17 pages, 5 figures. Neutrino spectra corrected, dependence on
dark matter substructure model included, references added. Results unchanged.
Accepted in PR
Distinguishing among dark matter annihilation channels with neutrino telescopes
We investigate the prospects for distinguishing dark matter annihilation
channels using the neutrino flux from gravitationally captured dark matter
particles annihilating inside the sun. We show that, even with experimental
error in energy reconstruction taken into account, the spectrum of contained
muon tracks may be used to discriminate neutrino final states from the gauge
boson/charged lepton final states and to determine their corresponding
branching ratios. We also discuss the effect of regeneration inside
the sun as a novel method to distinguish the flavor of final state neutrinos.
This effect as evidenced in the muon spectrum becomes important for dark matter
masses above 300 GeV. Distinguishing primary neutrinos and their flavor may be
achieved using multi-year data from a detector with the same capability and
effective volume as the IceCube/DeepCore array.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. v2 matches the published version, with revised
figures and added references for improved clarity; results unchange
The search for transient astrophysical neutrino emission with IceCube-DeepCore
We present the results of a search for astrophysical sources of brief transient neutrino emission using IceCube and DeepCore data acquired between 2012 May 15 and 2013 April 30. While the search methods employed in this analysis are similar to those used in previous IceCube point source searches, the data set being examined consists of a sample of predominantly sub-TeV muon-neutrinos from the Northern Sky (-5 degrees < delta < 90 degrees) obtained through a novel event selection method. This search represents a first attempt by IceCube to identify astrophysical neutrino sources in this relatively unexplored energy range. The reconstructed direction and time of arrival of neutrino events are used to search for any significant self-correlation in the data set. The data revealed no significant source of transient neutrino emission. This result has been used to construct limits at timescales ranging from roughly 1 s to 10 days for generic soft-spectra transients. We also present limits on a specific model of neutrino emission from soft jets in core-collapse supernovae
Characterization of the Atmospheric Muon Flux in IceCube
Muons produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers account for the by far
dominant part of the event yield in large-volume underground particle
detectors. The IceCube detector, with an instrumented volume of about a cubic
kilometer, has the potential to conduct unique investigations on atmospheric
muons by exploiting the large collection area and the possibility to track
particles over a long distance. Through detailed reconstruction of energy
deposition along the tracks, the characteristics of muon bundles can be
quantified, and individual particles of exceptionally high energy identified.
The data can then be used to constrain the cosmic ray primary flux and the
contribution to atmospheric lepton fluxes from prompt decays of short-lived
hadrons.
In this paper, techniques for the extraction of physical measurements from
atmospheric muon events are described and first results are presented. The
multiplicity spectrum of TeV muons in cosmic ray air showers for primaries in
the energy range from the knee to the ankle is derived and found to be
consistent with recent results from surface detectors. The single muon energy
spectrum is determined up to PeV energies and shows a clear indication for the
emergence of a distinct spectral component from prompt decays of short-lived
hadrons. The magnitude of the prompt flux, which should include a substantial
contribution from light vector meson di-muon decays, is consistent with current
theoretical predictions.Comment: 36 pages, 39 figure
A combined maximum-likelihood analysis of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux measured with IceCube
Evidence for an extraterrestrial flux of high-energy neutrinos has now been
found in multiple searches with the IceCube detector. The first solid evidence
was provided by a search for neutrino events with deposited energies
TeV and interaction vertices inside the instrumented volume. Recent
analyses suggest that the extraterrestrial flux extends to lower energies and
is also visible with throughgoing, -induced tracks from the Northern
hemisphere. Here, we combine the results from six different IceCube searches
for astrophysical neutrinos in a maximum-likelihood analysis. The combined
event sample features high-statistics samples of shower-like and track-like
events. The data are fit in up to three observables: energy, zenith angle and
event topology. Assuming the astrophysical neutrino flux to be isotropic and to
consist of equal flavors at Earth, the all-flavor spectrum with neutrino
energies between 25 TeV and 2.8 PeV is well described by an unbroken power law
with best-fit spectral index and a flux at 100 TeV of
.
Under the same assumptions, an unbroken power law with index is disfavored
with a significance of 3.8 () with respect to the best
fit. This significance is reduced to 2.1 () if instead we
compare the best fit to a spectrum with index that has an exponential
cut-off at high energies. Allowing the electron neutrino flux to deviate from
the other two flavors, we find a fraction of at Earth.
The sole production of electron neutrinos, which would be characteristic of
neutron-decay dominated sources, is rejected with a significance of 3.6
().Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal; updated one referenc
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory - Contributions to ICRC 2015 Part II: Atmospheric and Astrophysical Diffuse Neutrino Searches of All Flavors
Papers on atmospheric and astrophysical diffuse neutrino searches of all
flavors submitted to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015,
The Hague) by the IceCube Collaboration.Comment: 66 pages, 36 figures, Papers submitted to the 34th International
Cosmic Ray Conference, The Hague 2015, v2 has a corrected author lis
Measurement of the Atmospheric Spectrum with IceCube
We present a measurement of the atmospheric spectrum at energies
between 0.1 TeV and 100 TeV using data from the first year of the complete
IceCube detector. Atmospheric originate mainly from the decays of kaons
produced in cosmic-ray air showers. This analysis selects 1078 fully contained
events in 332 days of livetime, then identifies those consistent with particle
showers. A likelihood analysis with improved event selection extends our
previous measurement of the conventional fluxes to higher energies. The
data constrain the conventional flux to be times a
baseline prediction from a Honda's calculation, including the knee of the
cosmic-ray spectrum. A fit to the kaon contribution () to the neutrino
flux finds a kaon component that is times the baseline
value. The fitted/measured prompt neutrino flux from charmed hadron decays
strongly depends on the assumed astrophysical flux and shape. If the
astrophysical component follows a power law, the result for the prompt flux is
times a calculated flux based on the work by Enberg, Reno
and Sarcevic.Comment: PRD accepted versio
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