Cosmic-Ray Particles to Be Tracked at South Pole

This computer reconstruction shows the track of a downward-moving cosmic-ray muon — an elementary particle similar to an electron — as observed in the IceCube Neutrino Detector.  

When complete, IceCube will encompass a cubic kilometer of ice and uses a novel astronomical messenger, called a neutrino, to probe the universe.

The IceCube detector is currently under construction at the South Pole, with IceTop, a square-kilometer array of particle detectors, installed directly above it.  

The colored dots represent light sensors that detected photons emitted by the muon as it traversed the ice near the sensors. The size of the dots is proportional to the number of photons detected by the sensor, while the different colors indicate the time of detection of the photons, and consequently the direction of the muon's movement. The red sensors detected the track, and then yellow, and then green, following the rainbow. The tracked region in the lower portion of the picture is approximately 1 kilometer in length.

IceTop will detect extended particle showers in our atmosphere triggered by high energy cosmic rays. High-energy muons in the showers can penetrate deep into ice, so events with trajectories that pass through IceTop and the deep detectors of IceCube are seen by both components.

The IceCube Neutrino Detector searches for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. IceCube is also powerful tool for searching for dark matter, and could reveal new physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature.

IceCube is an international project sponsored and conducted by the United States and other nations. Primary funding comes from the National Science Foundation through its Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) program and Research and Related Activities (R&RA) grants.  Scheduled completion date is 2010.

-NSF