The Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory is one of the most exciting scientific projects of our time – the first instrument designed to detect neutrinos from outer space. You might have heard about it in the news, but how much do you really know about this cutting-edge tool? To help, here’s an introduction to Ice Cube, how it works, and what we can learn from it!
What are neutrinos?
Neutrinos are tiny elementary particles that carry no charge and have virtually no mass. They are created in nuclear reactions (fission, fusion, cosmic rays) or by radioactive decay. The neutrinos created by these reactions travel at nearly the speed of light and will pass unimpeded through most matter – making them difficult to detect and study. Most of the time, neutrinos fly right past Earth without hitting anything. If they do collide with something on their way to Earth, it is so rare as to be practically impossible! To catch one of these elusive particles scientists had to create an observatory deep underground: In other words, they built a huge detector under the ice in Antarctica.
Why study neutrinos?
Neutrinos are some of the most plentiful particles in our universe, but they are also some of the most mysterious. Thanks to the IceCube neutrino observatory, we are finally able to study these elusive particles and learn more about how they work. The observatory is made up of ice towers that can detect neutrinos by measuring their passage through an enormous volume of ice. It was once thought that cosmic rays were responsible for creating high-energy atmospheric neutrinos, but it turns out that cosmic rays have nothing to do with them at all! The data from this telescope proves that atmospheric muons produce the muon neutrinos measured by IceCube. When a proton breaks apart in the atmosphere and creates different particles, such as muons, some of those muons will be shot into space as high-energy atmospheric neutrinos. So what does this mean? Well it means that studying the origins of atmospheric neutrinos is going to tell us more about where they come from in the universe and what kind of processes create them.
How does IceCube help us?
IceCube is designed to detect neutrinos, which are subatomic particles that fly through space at nearly the speed of light. The observatory consists of 86 strings, or cables, containing 60 basketball-sized optical sensors each suspended from an ice shelf near the South Pole. When neutrinos smash into these sensors and create muons (another type of subatomic particle) and other debris, it creates a trace of light that can be detected by telescopes in Antarctica and Sweden. Researchers sift through this data, looking for patterns in events such as when more than one high energy neutrino shows up at the same time. These patterns could reveal new information about some of the most powerful forces in our universe, like black holes.
Who built it and where is it located?
IceCube, the world’s largest neutrino observatory, was built at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The detector consists of 86 strings of basketball hoop-sized digital optical modules suspended in a cubic kilometer of ice beneath Antarctica’s surface. It captures subatomic particles known as neutrinos that come from outer space and are generated by violent cosmic events such as exploding stars and black holes. Detectors on Earth have seen only one type of neutrino. But because of its extreme sensitivity to high-energy light, it could be used to study all types of objects in space. These include gamma-ray bursts, which emit more energy in a few seconds than our sun will produce over its entire 10-billion year lifetime; novas and supernovas that help create chemical elements like gold and uranium; black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei or AGN, quasars—and perhaps even dark matter.
When was it built and how much did it cost?
IceCube was built in 2010 and cost $279 million dollars. It’s situated at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, where it operates under extreme conditions – including temperatures as low as -89 degrees Fahrenheit and atmospheric pressure around 100 times what we experience on Earth. The observatory has already made some astounding discoveries, including being able to detect neutrinos from outside our solar system. These particles are created by exploding stars called supernovae that emit gamma rays and are too faint to be seen by any other telescope. When they collide with atoms of ice deep beneath the surface of Antarctica, they produce muons which can be detected by IceCube’s detectors.
IceCube is also set up to observe high-energy cosmic neutrinos coming from anywhere within or outside of our galaxy.
How can we use the observatory?
IceCube is an observatory using sensors and detectors sunk in a cubic kilometer of ice at the South Pole. It’s designed to detect neutrinos, which are elementary particles that have no charge and very little mass. These elusive particles are created when cosmic rays hit Earth’s atmosphere. Other neutrino observatories exist but they tend to be small enough to fit into laboratory buildings, whereas IceCube spans one cubic kilometer!
What do we know about these tiny particles already?
Neutrinos are elementary particles, meaning they’re not made up of anything smaller. They have no charge, and are also very small–about one millionth the size of an atom. They can travel through solid matter like a ghost and even pass through Earth as though it were completely transparent, which makes them difficult to detect. A neutrino observatory, like IceCube, creates a type of three-dimensional map using strings of digital optical modules called Digital Optical Modules or DOMs. These DOMs watch for flashes that signal when a neutrino hits the ice at high speeds. The location of these hits in relation to each other tells scientists about where neutrinos come from and how fast they’re moving. In this way, IceCube gives us information on more than just what’s going on outside our planet; it lets us look deep into space and explore parts of the universe we would never be able to see otherwise.
