Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
IceCube Lab
IceTop
81 Stations, each with
2 IceTop Cherenkov detector tanks
2 optical sensors per tank
324 optical sensors
50 m
IceCube Array
86 strings including 8 DeepCore strings
60 optical sensors on each string
5160 optical sensors
December, 2010: Project completed, 86 strings
1450 m
DeepCore
8 strings-spacing optimized for lower energies
3
60 optical sensors
Eiffel Tower
324 m
2450 m
2820 m
Bedrock
Figure 7.12
Artistic view of the IceCube neutrino telescope with the array of photomultiplier
tubes buried in the ice under South Pole Station. (Credit: Danielle Vevea/NSF and Jamie
Yang/NSF)
from the Sun and for space weather forecasting, such as determining radio
communication interference.
High-energy detectors are also used to search for elusive particles called
neutrinos, believed to emanate from some of the most exotic astrophysical objects
such as quasars and black holes. In the early 1990s, the AMANDA (Antarctic
Muon And Neutrino Detector Array) experiment was deployed at South Pole to
search for these particles. The experiment consisted of widely spaced photo-
multiplier tubes (PMTs) buried in the ice and facing downward, thereby using Earth
to
filter out most other particles, including cosmic rays. Essentially, the detector
was the large chunk of ice outlined by the PMTs. Since neutrinos barely interact
with matter, they can usually travel directly through Earth unscathed. However,
when the occasional neutrino interacts with the ice, a blue
flash of light known as
Cherenkov radiation is produced, which can then be recorded by the PMTs.
The next generation neutrino telescope was recently completed at South Pole.
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