“We hope to improve our understanding of neutrino physics, search for signs of dark matter, and . investigate terrestrial effects relating to our atmosphere.”
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Celebrating IceCubeâs first decade of discovery For news media
The IceCube Laboratory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica.
It was the beginning of a grand experiment unlike anything the world had ever seen. Ten years ago today, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory fully opened its eyes for the first time.
Over the course of the previous seven years, dozens of intrepid technicians, engineers, and scientists had traveled to the South Pole â one of the coldest, driest and most isolated places on Earth â to build the biggest, strangest telescope in the world. Crews drilled 86 holes nearly two-and-a-half kilometers deep and lowered a cable strung with 60 basketball-sized light detectors into each hole.
A smashing discovery Article by Tracey Bryant, adapted from IceCube collaboration Photos courtesy of Frank Schroeder and the IceCube Collaboration March 10, 2021
IceCube detector helps prove 60-year-old theory
An electron antineutrino races to Earth from outer space at nearly the speed of light, carrying 6.3 petaelectronvolts (PeV) of energy. Deep in the ice sheet at the South Pole, this high-energy particle smashes into an electron and produces another particle, which quickly decays into a shower of secondary particles. The explosion of light from the collision does not go unnoticed. It is captured by a massive telescope buried in the Antarctic glacier, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.