IceCube: Neutrino Messages from GRBs

Abstract

The mystery of where and how Nature accelerates the cosmic rays is still unresolved a century after their discovery. Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have been proposed as one of the more plausible sources of extragalactic cosmic rays. A positive observation of neutrinos in coincidence with a GRB would identify these objects as sources of the highest-energy cosmic rays and provide invaluable information about the processes occurring inside these phenomena. Calculations show that a kilometer-scale neutrino telescope is necessary for this task. The idea of such a detector is now becoming reality as IceCube at the South Pole nears completion. The contribution reviews the status of the construction and operation of IceCube and summarize the results from searches for neutrinos from GRBs and similar phenomena with IceCube and its predecessor, AMANDA. At the end, an outline of future plans and perspectives for IceCube is given.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, proceedings for workshop on "Deciphering the Ancient Universe with Gamma-Ray Bursts", Kyoto, April 2010, to be published by AI