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Observation of the cosmic-ray shadow of the Moon with IceCube

M. G. Aartsen2, R. Abbasi27, Y. Abdou22, M. Ackermann41, J. Adams15, J. A. Aguilar21, M. Ahlers27, D. Altmann9, J. Auffenberg27 et al. (IceCube Collaboration)

J. Auffenberg27, X. Bai31,‡, M. Baker27, S. W. Barwick23, V. Baum28, R. Bay7, J. J. Beatty17,18, S. Bechet12, J. Becker Tjus10, K.-H. Becker40, M. Bell38, M. L. Benabderrahmane41, S. BenZvi27, J. Berdermann41, P. Berghaus41, D. Berley16, E. Bernardini41, A. Bernhard30, D. Bertrand12, D. Z. Besson25, G. Binder8,7, D. Bindig40, M. Bissok1, E. Blaufuss16, J. Blumenthal1, D. J. Boersma39,*, S. Bohaichuk20, C. Bohm34, D. Bose13, S. Böser11, O. Botner39, L. Brayeur13, H.-P. Bretz41, A. M. Brown15, R. Bruijn24, J. Brunner41, M. Carson22, J. Casey5, M. Casier13, D. Chirkin27, A. Christov21, B. Christy16, K. Clark38, F. Clevermann19, S. Coenders1, S. Cohen24, D. F. Cowen38,37, A. H. Cruz Silva41, M. Danninger34, J. Daughhetee5, J. C. Davis17, C. De Clercq13, S. De Ridder22, P. Desiati27, M. de With9, T. DeYoung38, J. C. Díaz-Vélez27, M. Dunkman38, R. Eagan38, B. Eberhardt28, J. Eisch27, R. W. Ellsworth16, S. Euler1, P. A. Evenson31, O. Fadiran27, A. R. Fazely6, A. Fedynitch10, J. Feintzeig27, T. Feusels22, K. Filimonov7, C. Finley34, T. Fischer-Wasels40, S. Flis34, A. Franckowiak11, R. Franke41, K. Frantzen19, T. Fuchs19, T. K. Gaisser31, J. Gallagher26, L. Gerhardt8,7, L. Gladstone27, T. Glüsenkamp41, A. Goldschmidt8, G. Golup13, J. G. Gonzalez31, J. A. Goodman16, D. Góra41, D. T. Grandmont20, D. Grant20, A. Groß30, C. Ha8,7, A. Haj Ismail22, P. Hallen1, A. Hallgren39, F. Halzen27, K. Hanson12, D. Heereman12, D. Heinen1, K. Helbing40, R. Hellauer16, S. Hickford15, G. C. Hill2, K. D. Hoffman16, R. Hoffmann40, A. Homeier11, K. Hoshina27, W. Huelsnitz16,§, P. O. Hulth34, K. Hultqvist34, S. Hussain31, A. Ishihara14, E. Jacobi41, J. Jacobsen27, K. Jagielski1, G. S. Japaridze4, K. Jero27, O. Jlelati22, B. Kaminsky41, A. Kappes9, T. Karg41, A. Karle27, J. L. Kelley27, J. Kiryluk35, F. Kislat41, J. Kläs40, S. R. Klein8,7, J.-H. Köhne19, G. Kohnen29, H. Kolanoski9, L. Köpke28, C. Kopper27, S. Kopper40, D. J. Koskinen38, M. Kowalski11, M. Krasberg27, K. Krings1, G. Kroll28, J. Kunnen13, N. Kurahashi27, T. Kuwabara31, M. Labare13, H. Landsman27, M. J. Larson36, M. Lesiak-Bzdak35, M. Leuermann1, J. Leute30, J. Lünemann28, J. Madsen33, R. Maruyama27, K. Mase14, H. S. Matis8, F. McNally27, K. Meagher16, M. Merck27, P. Mészáros37,38, T. Meures12, S. Miarecki8,7, E. Middell41, N. Milke19, J. Miller13, L. Mohrmann41, T. Montaruli21,∥, R. Morse27, R. Nahnhauer41, U. Naumann40, H. Niederhausen35, S. C. Nowicki20, D. R. Nygren8, A. Obertacke40, S. Odrowski30, A. Olivas16, M. Olivo10, A. O’Murchadha12, L. Paul1, J. A. Pepper36, C. Pérez de los Heros39, C. Pfendner17, D. Pieloth19, E. Pinat12, N. Pirk41, J. Posselt40, P. B. Price7, G. T. Przybylski8, L. Rädel1, M. Rameez21, K. Rawlins3, P. Redl16, R. Reimann1, E. Resconi30, W. Rhode19, M. Ribordy24, M. Richman16, B. Riedel27, J. P. Rodrigues27, C. Rott17,¶, T. Ruhe19, B. Ruzybayev31, D. Ryckbosch22, S. M. Saba10, T. Salameh38, H.-G. Sander28, M. Santander27,†, S. Sarkar32, K. Schatto28, M. Scheel1, F. Scheriau19, T. Schmidt16, M. Schmitz19, S. Schoenen1, S. Schöneberg10, A. Schönwald41, A. Schukraft1, L. Schulte11, O. Schulz30, D. Seckel31, Y. Sestayo30, S. Seunarine33, C. Sheremata20, M. W. E. Smith38, D. Soldin40, G. M. Spiczak33, C. Spiering41, M. Stamatikos17,**, T. Stanev31, A. Stasik11, T. Stezelberger8, R. G. Stokstad8, A. Stößl41, E. A. Strahler13, R. Ström39, G. W. Sullivan16, H. Taavola39, I. Taboada5, A. Tamburro31, A. Tepe40, S. Ter-Antonyan6, G. Tešić38, S. Tilav31, P. A. Toale36, S. Toscano27, M. Usner11, D. van der Drift8,7, N. van Eijndhoven13, A. Van Overloop22, J. van Santen27, M. Vehring1, M. Voge11, M. Vraeghe22, C. Walck34, T. Waldenmaier9, M. Wallraff1, R. Wasserman38, Ch. Weaver27, M. Wellons27, C. Wendt27, S. Westerhoff27, N. Whitehorn27, K. Wiebe28, C. H. Wiebusch1, D. R. Williams36, H. Wissing16, M. Wolf34, T. R. Wood20, K. Woschnagg7, C. Xu31, D. L. Xu36, X. W. Xu6, J. P. Yanez41, G. Yodh23, S. Yoshida14, P. Zarzhitsky36, J. Ziemann19, S. Zierke1, and M. Zoll34 (IceCube Collaboration)

  • 1III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen, Germany
  • 2School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
  • 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
  • 12Science Faculty CP230, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
  • 13Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dienst ELEM, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
  • 14Department of Physics, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
  • 15Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
  • 16Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 17Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
  • 18Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
  • 19Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany
  • 20Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E1, Canada
  • 21Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire, Université de Genève, CH-1211 Genève, Switzerland
  • 22Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
  • 23Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
  • 24Laboratory for High Energy Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
  • 26Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
  • 27Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
  • 28Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, D-55099 Mainz, Germany
  • 29Université de Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium
  • 30T.U. Munich, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  • 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 Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3800, USA
  • 36Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA
  • 37Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
  • 38Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
  • 39Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 516, S-75120 Uppsala, Sweden
  • 40Department of Physics, University of Wuppertal, D-42119 Wuppertal, Germany
  • 41DESY, D-15735 Zeuthen, Germany

  • *Corresponding author. boersma@icecube.wisc.edu
  • †Corresponding author. santander@icecube.wisc.edu
  • ‡Present address: Physics Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
  • §Present address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
  • ∥Also at Sezione INFN, Dipartimento di Fisica, I-70126 Bari, Italy.
  • Present address: Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea.
  • **Present address: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
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Phys. Rev. D 89, 102004 – Published 28 May, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.102004

Abstract

We report on the observation of a significant deficit of cosmic rays from the direction of the Moon with the IceCube detector. The study of this “Moon shadow” is used to characterize the angular resolution and absolute pointing capabilities of the detector. The detection is based on data taken in two periods before the completion of the detector: between April 2008 and May 2009, when IceCube operated in a partial configuration with 40 detector strings deployed in the South Pole ice, and between May 2009 and May 2010 when the detector operated with 59 strings. Using two independent analysis methods, the Moon shadow has been observed to high significance (>6σ) in both detector configurations. The observed location of the shadow center is within 0.2° of its expected position when geomagnetic deflection effects are taken into account. This measurement validates the directional reconstruction capabilities of IceCube.

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Phys. Rev. D 89, 102004– Published 28 May, 2014
  • Received 29 May 2013

© 2014 American Physical Society

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