IceCube searches for neutrino emission from galactic and extragalactic sources

Abstract

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located near the geographic South Pole, is currently the world’s largest neutrino telescope. IceCube is principally designed to detect high-energy neutrinos from galactic and extragalactic sources. The detector comprises more than a cubic-kilometer of glacial ice instrumented with 86 vertical strings, each with 60 optical sensors, and a square-kilometer array at the surface. IceCube sensors detect Cherenkov radiation from charged particles produced in all neutrino flavor interactions in the ice. We discuss the recent results from searches for high-energy neutrinos, including the first detection of a diffuse flux of extraterrestrial origin with energies between about 30 TeV and 2 PeV. The events with energies above 1 PeV are the highest energy neutrinos ever observed.