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Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 40-string detector

R. Abbasi²⁸, Y. Abdou²², T. Abu-Zayyad³³, J. Adams¹⁶, J. A. Aguilar²⁸, M. Ahlers³², D. Altmann¹, K. Andeen²⁸, J. Auffenberg³⁸ et al. (IceCube Collaboration)

J. Auffenberg³⁸, X. Bai³¹, M. Baker²⁸, S. W. Barwick²⁴, R. Bay⁷, J. L. Bazo Alba³⁹, K. Beattie⁸, J. J. Beatty^18,19, S. Bechet¹³, J. K. Becker¹⁰, K.-H. Becker³⁸, M. L. Benabderrahmane³⁹, S. BenZvi²⁸, J. Berdermann³⁹, P. Berghaus³¹, D. Berley¹⁷, E. Bernardini³⁹, D. Bertrand¹³, D. Z. Besson²⁶, D. Bindig³⁸, M. Bissok¹, E. Blaufuss¹⁷, J. Blumenthal¹, D. J. Boersma¹, C. Bohm³⁴, D. Bose¹⁴, S. Böser¹¹, O. Botner³⁷, A. M. Brown¹⁶, S. Buitink⁸, K. S. Caballero-Mora³⁶, M. Carson²², D. Chirkin²⁸, B. Christy¹⁷, J. Clem³¹, F. Clevermann²⁰, S. Cohen²⁵, C. Colnard²³, D. F. Cowen^36,35, M. V. D’Agostino⁷, M. Danninger³⁴, J. Daughhetee⁵, J. C. Davis¹⁸, C. De Clercq¹⁴, L. Demirörs²⁵, T. Denger¹¹, O. Depaepe¹⁴, F. Descamps²², P. Desiati²⁸, G. de Vries-Uiterweerd²², T. DeYoung³⁶, J. C. Díaz-Vélez²⁸, M. Dierckxsens¹³, J. Dreyer¹⁰, J. P. Dumm²⁸, R. Ehrlich¹⁷, J. Eisch²⁸, R. W. Ellsworth¹⁷, O. Engdegård³⁷, S. Euler¹, P. A. Evenson³¹, O. Fadiran⁴, A. R. Fazely⁶, A. Fedynitch¹⁰, J. Feintzeig²⁸, T. Feusels²², K. Filimonov⁷, C. Finley³⁴, T. Fischer-Wasels³⁸, M. M. Foerster³⁶, B. D. Fox³⁶, A. Franckowiak¹¹, R. Franke³⁹, T. K. Gaisser³¹, J. Gallagher²⁷, L. Gerhardt^8,7, L. Gladstone²⁸, T. Glüsenkamp¹, A. Goldschmidt⁸, J. A. Goodman¹⁷, D. Gora³⁹, D. Grant²¹, T. Griesel²⁹, A. Groß^16,23, S. Grullon^28,*, M. Gurtner³⁸, C. Ha³⁶, A. Hajismail²², A. Hallgren³⁷, F. Halzen²⁸, K. Han³⁹, K. Hanson^13,28, D. Heinen¹, K. Helbing³⁸, P. Herquet³⁰, S. Hickford¹⁶, G. C. Hill²⁸, K. D. Hoffman¹⁷, A. Homeier¹¹, K. Hoshina²⁸, D. Hubert¹⁴, W. Huelsnitz¹⁷, J.-P. Hülß¹, P. O. Hulth³⁴, K. Hultqvist³⁴, S. Hussain³¹, A. Ishihara¹⁵, J. Jacobsen²⁸, G. S. Japaridze⁴, H. Johansson³⁴, J. M. Joseph⁸, K.-H. Kampert³⁸, A. Kappes⁹, T. Karg³⁸, A. Karle²⁸, P. Kenny²⁶, J. Kiryluk^8,7, F. Kislat³⁹, S. R. Klein^8,7, J.-H. Köhne²⁰, G. Kohnen³⁰, H. Kolanoski⁹, L. Köpke²⁹, S. Kopper³⁸, D. J. Koskinen³⁶, M. Kowalski¹¹, T. Kowarik²⁹, M. Krasberg²⁸, T. Krings¹, G. Kroll²⁹, N. Kurahashi²⁸, T. Kuwabara³¹, M. Labare¹⁴, S. Lafebre³⁶, K. Laihem¹, H. Landsman²⁸, M. J. Larson³⁶, R. Lauer³⁹, J. Lünemann²⁹, J. Madsen³³, P. Majumdar³⁹, A. Marotta¹³, R. Maruyama²⁸, K. Mase¹⁵, H. S. Matis⁸, K. Meagher¹⁷, M. Merck²⁸, P. Mészáros^35,36, T. Meures¹³, E. Middell³⁹, N. Milke²⁰, J. Miller³⁷, T. Montaruli^28,†, R. Morse²⁸, S. M. Movit³⁵, R. Nahnhauer³⁹, J. W. Nam²⁴, U. Naumann³⁸, P. Nießen³¹, D. R. Nygren⁸, S. Odrowski²³, A. Olivas¹⁷, M. Olivo¹⁰, A. O’Murchadha²⁸, M. Ono¹⁵, S. Panknin¹¹, L. Paul¹, C. Pérez de los Heros³⁷, J. Petrovic¹³, A. Piegsa²⁹, D. Pieloth²⁰, R. Porrata⁷, J. Posselt³⁸, P. B. Price⁷, G. T. Przybylski⁸, K. Rawlins³, P. Redl¹⁷, E. Resconi²³, W. Rhode²⁰, M. Ribordy²⁵, A. Rizzo¹⁴, J. P. Rodrigues²⁸, P. Roth¹⁷, F. Rothmaier²⁹, C. Rott¹⁸, T. Ruhe²⁰, D. Rutledge³⁶, B. Ruzybayev³¹, D. Ryckbosch²², H.-G. Sander²⁹, M. Santander²⁸, S. Sarkar³², K. Schatto²⁹, T. Schmidt¹⁷, A. Schönwald³⁹, A. Schukraft¹, A. Schultes³⁸, O. Schulz²³, M. Schunck¹, D. Seckel³¹, B. Semburg³⁸, S. H. Seo³⁴, Y. Sestayo²³, S. Seunarine¹², A. Silvestri²⁴, A. Slipak³⁶, G. M. Spiczak³³, C. Spiering³⁹, M. Stamatikos^18,‡, T. Stanev³¹, G. Stephens³⁶, T. Stezelberger⁸, R. G. Stokstad⁸, A. Stössl³⁹, S. Stoyanov³¹, E. A. Strahler¹⁴, T. Straszheim¹⁷, M. Stür¹¹, G. W. Sullivan¹⁷, Q. Swillens¹³, H. Taavola³⁷, I. Taboada⁵, A. Tamburro³³, A. Tepe⁵, S. Ter-Antonyan⁶, S. Tilav³¹, P. A. Toale², S. Toscano²⁸, D. Tosi³⁹, D. Turčan¹⁷, N. van Eijndhoven¹⁴, J. Vandenbroucke⁷, A. Van Overloop²², J. van Santen²⁸, M. Vehring¹, M. Voge¹¹, C. Walck³⁴, T. Waldenmaier⁹, M. Wallraff¹, M. Walter³⁹, Ch. Weaver²⁸, C. Wendt²⁸, S. Westerhoff²⁸, N. Whitehorn²⁸, K. Wiebe²⁹, C. H. Wiebusch¹, D. R. Williams², R. Wischnewski³⁹, H. Wissing¹⁷, M. Wolf²³, T. R. Wood²¹, K. Woschnagg⁷, C. Xu³¹, X. W. Xu⁶, G. Yodh²⁴, S. Yoshida¹⁵, P. Zarzhitsky², and M. Zoll³⁴ (IceCube Collaboration)

¹III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen, Germany
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508, USA
⁴CTSPS, Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia 30314, USA
⁵School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
⁶Department of Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA
⁷Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁸Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁹Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
¹⁰Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
¹¹Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
¹²Department of Physics, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown BB11000, Barbados
¹³Université Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
¹⁴Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dienst ELEM, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
¹⁵Department of Physics, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
¹⁶Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
¹⁷Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
¹⁸Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
¹⁹Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
²⁰Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany
²¹Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G7
²²Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
²³Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, D-69177 Heidelberg, Germany
²⁴Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
²⁵Laboratory for High Energy Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
²⁶Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
²⁷Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
²⁸Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
²⁹Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, D-55099 Mainz, Germany
³⁰Université de Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium
³¹Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
³²Department of Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom
³³Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, Wisconsin 54022, USA
³⁴Oskar Klein Centre and Department of Physics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
³⁵Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
³⁶Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
³⁷Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, S-75120 Uppsala, Sweden
³⁸Department of Physics, University of Wuppertal, D-42119 Wuppertal, Germany
³⁹DESY, D-15735 Zeuthen, Germany

^*Corresponding author: Sean Grullon. grullon@icecube.wisc.edu
^†Also at Sezione INFN, Bari, I-70124, Italy.
^‡Also at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

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Phys. Rev. D 84, 082001 – Published 3 October, 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.082001

Abstract

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a $1 {km}^{3}$ detector currently taking data at the South Pole. One of the main strategies used to look for astrophysical neutrinos with IceCube is the search for a diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos from unresolved sources. A hard energy spectrum of neutrinos from isotropically distributed astrophysical sources could manifest itself as a detectable signal that may be differentiated from the atmospheric neutrino background by spectral measurement. This analysis uses data from the IceCube detector collected in its half completed configuration which operated between April 2008 and May 2009 to search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos. A total of 12 877 upward-going candidate neutrino events have been selected for this analysis. No evidence for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos was found in the data set leading to a 90% C.L. upper limit on the normalization of an $E^{- 2}$ astrophysical $ν_{μ}$ flux of $8.9 \times 10^{- 9} GeV {cm}^{- 2} s^{- 1} {sr}^{- 1}$ . The analysis is sensitive in the energy range between 35 TeV and 7 PeV. The 12 877 candidate neutrino events are consistent with atmospheric muon neutrinos measured from 332 GeV to 84 TeV and no evidence for a prompt component to the atmospheric neutrino spectrum is found.

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Search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos with the IceCube 40-string detector

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