The first sensors of the IceCube neutrino observatory were deployed at the South Pole during the austral summer of 2004–2005 and have been producing data since February 2005. One string of 60 sensors ...buried in the ice and a surface array of eight ice Cherenkov tanks took data until December 2005 when deployment of the next set of strings and tanks began. We have analyzed these data, demonstrating that the performance of the system meets or exceeds design requirements. Times are determined across the whole array to a relative precision of better than 3
ns, allowing reconstruction of muon tracks and light bursts in the ice, of air-showers in the surface array and of events seen in coincidence by surface and deep-ice detectors separated by up to 2.5
km.
The STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is used to record the collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The TPC is the central element in a suite of detectors that surrounds the interaction ...vertex. The TPC provides complete coverage around the beam-line, and provides complete tracking for charged particles within ±1.8 units of pseudo-rapidity of the center-of-mass frame. Charged particles with momenta greater than
100
MeV/c
are recorded. Multiplicities in excess of 3000 tracks per event are routinely reconstructed in the software. The TPC measures
4
m
in diameter by
4.2
m
long, making it the largest TPC in the world.
A search for diffuse neutrinos with energies in excess of 10 super(5) GeV is conducted with AMANDA-II data recorded between 2000 and 2002. Above 10 super(7) GeV, the Earth is essentially opaque to ...neutrinos. This fact, combined with the limited overburden of the AMANDA-II detector (roughly 1.5 km), concentrates these ultra-high-energy neutrinos at the horizon. The primary background for this analysis is bundles of downgoing, high-energy muons from the interaction of cosmic rays in the atmosphere. No statistically significant excess above the expected background is seen in the data, and an upper limit is set on the diffuse all-flavor neutrino flux of image GeV cm super(-2) s super(-1) sr super(-1) valid over the energy range of image to 10 super(9) GeV. A number of models that predict neutrino fluxes from active galactic nuclei are excluded at the 90% confidence level.
We present the results of the analysis of neutrino observations by the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) correlated with photon observations of more than 400 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) ...in the northern hemisphere from 1997 to 2003. During this time period, AMANDA's effective collection area for muon neutrinos was larger than that of any other existing detector. After the application of various selection criteria to our data, we expect similar to 1 neutrino event and <2 background events. Based on our observations of zero events during and immediately prior to the GRBs in the data set, we set the most stringent upper limit on muon neutrino emission correlated with GRBs. Assuming a Waxman-Bahcall spectrum and incorporating all systematic uncertainties, our flux upper limit has a normalization at 1 PeV of E super(2) Phi sub(y) less than or equal to 6.3 x 10 super(-9) GeV cm super(-2) s super(-1) sr super(-1), with 90% of the events expected within the energy range of similar to 10 TeV to similar to 3 PeV. The impact of this limit on several theoretical models of GRBs is discussed, as well as the future potential for detection of GRBs by next-generation neutrino telescopes. Finally, we briefly describe several modifications to this analysis in order to apply it to other types of transient point sources.
Azimuthal anisotropy (v(2)) and two-particle angular correlations of high p(T) charged hadrons have been measured in Au+Au collisions at sqrts(NN)=130 GeV for transverse momenta up to 6 GeV/c, where ...hard processes are expected to contribute significantly. The two-particle angular correlations exhibit elliptic flow and a structure suggestive of fragmentation of high p(T) partons. The monotonic rise of v(2)(p(T)) for p(T)<2 GeV/c is consistent with collective hydrodynamical flow calculations. At p(T)>3 GeV/c, a saturation of v(2) is observed which persists up to p(T)=6 GeV/c.
On 2006 December 13 the IceTop air shower array at the South Pole detected a major solar particle event. By numerically simulating the response of the IceTop tanks, which are thick Cerenkov detectors ...with multiple thresholds deployed at high altitude with no geomagnetic cutoff, we determined the particle energy spectrum in the energy range 0.6-7.6 GeV. This is the first such spectral measurement using a single instrument with a well- defined viewing direction. We compare the IceTop spectrum and its time evolution with previously published results and outline plans for improved resolution of future solar particle spectra.
Using the neutrino telescope AMANDA-II, we have conducted two analyses searching for neutrino-induced cascades from gamma-ray bursts. No evidence of astrophysical neutrinos was found, and limits are ...presented for several models. We also present neutrino effective areas which allow the calculation of limits for any neutrino production model. The first analysis looked for a statistical excess of events within a sliding window of 1 or 100 s (for short and long burst classes, respectively) during the years 2001-2003. The resulting upper limit on the diffuse flux normalization times E super(2) for the Waxman-Bahcall model at 1 PeV is 1.6 x 10 super(-6) GeV cm super(-2) s super(-1) sr super(-1) (a factor of 120 above the theoretical prediction). For this search 90% of the neutrinos would fall in the energy range 50 TeV to 7 PeV. The second analysis looked for neutrino-induced cascades in coincidence with 73 bursts detected by BATSE in the year 2000. The resulting upper limit on the diffuse flux normalization times E super(2), also at 1 PeV, is 1.5 x 10 super(-6) GeV cm super(-2) s super(-1) sr super(-1) (a factor of 110 above the theoretical prediction) for the same energy range. The neutrino-induced cascade channel is complementary to the up-going muon channel. We comment on its advantages for searches of neutrinos from GRBs and its future use with IceCube.
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