Ice Cube

I went out to Ice Cube yesterday!!  They study neutrinos.  From their website...
(www.icecube.wisc.edu)

IceCube is a unique telescope at the South Pole. Most optical telescopes look at photons, but IceCube looks for evidence of a more mysterious particle called a neutrino. Because of this, it is referred to as a neutrino telescope or neutrino detector. Using an optical telescope to look at the Universe is like taking a photo, but looking at the Universe with a neutrino telescope is similar to taking an X-ray.

Neutrinos

Neutrinos are very small, nearly massless particles that come from a variety of sources. They come from the sun, radioactive decay, cosmic rays, and violent events in the galaxy such as exploding stars. Exploding stars, or supernovas, release very high amounts of neutrinos.

Animation of a neutrino passing through the detector.

IceCube is focused on seeing high energy neutrinos, which can help us understand where cosmic rays come from, more about gamma ray bursts and supernovae, the identity of dark matter, and the ability of neutrinos to oscillate, or change type. IceCube is a tool for exploration. Already it has changed the way we think of the Universe.

Since neutrinos have a very small mass, they are hard to detect. IceCube uses the ice at the South Pole in Antarctica to hold basketball sized detectors called digital optical modules, or DOMs. Altogether, there are over 5,000 DOMs in the ice.

South Pole Science

It may seem strange to use the ice, but there are several reasons why it is an excellent location. First, the ice is very clear. IceCube is buried very deep in the ice, about 2000 meters or 1.5 miles. At that depth, pressure has pushed all the bubbles out, which means it is easy for the DOMs to record neutrino interactions.

Second, it is very dark in the ice. This is important because when a neutrino interacts with an atom of ice, a particle called a muon is produced. The muon radiates blue light that is detected by the DOMs. The direction and intensity of the light allows us to determine where the neutrino was coming from in the Universe.

Finally, the last great thing about the ice at the South Pole is that there is a lot of it! The IceCube neutrino detector is enormous. It uses a cubic kilometer of ice and is the largest neutrino detector in the world.

Mike, my tour guide

All the wires from the holes in the ice, plugged into computers

Wires from the outside, grouped together, before being split in the pictures above

The detector in the ground

More detectors in the ice

My ride, and the ice cube building. The two beer cans on the side is where the wires come into the building

Wind turbine about 1 1/2 miles from station

A hole in the ice; goes down about 1 1/2 miles