Project Ice Cube Looks for Neutrinos in Effort to Better Understand the Universe
12.07.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Antarctic
Over the past five years, scientists have been placing thousands of detectors into holes 2.4 km deep in the Antarctic Ice Sheet in an effort to gain better insight into cosmological events that release bursts of energy and dark matter to gain better insight into the physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature. Once completed, IceCube, a telescope currently under construction at the South Pole, will search for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources. It will cover 1 km3 of ice and use neutrinos to probe the universe.
Because they are looking for the light given off by the interaction between neutrinos and other particles, it was decided to put the telescope in Antarctica. However, because neutrinos rarely interact with other particles, the researchers need efficient detectors. To install them, researchers must drill 2.4 km into the ice, lower a cable strung with 60 modules into the hole and put everything in place within a day, before the water freezes around the modules. Once installed, chips will process pulses given off by the light sensors, record the signals digitally, and transmit them to the surface.
While the researchers are planning to complete the installation of the detector - which will feature 86 strings over about 250 acres - during the coming Antarctic summer, the detector is already functioning and searching for high-energy neutrinos.
