IceCube Particle Astrophysics
Internship based on learning about IceCube, neutrinos, and coding through python.
IceCube: Need to Know
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a neutrino observatory constructed at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antartica. It is the first detector of its kind, designed to observe the cosmos from deep within the South Pole ice.
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The detector itself encompasses a cubic kilometer of ice with the purpose of searching for nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos. These particles, called neutrinos, are high-energy astronomical messengers that can provide information able to probe the most volatile astrophysical sources: events such as exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars.
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The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is used to address several big questions in physics, like the nature of dark matter and the properties of the neutrino itself. IceCube collaborators also study cosmic rays which interact with Earth's atmosphere revealing fascinating new theories about the universe.
Internship Topics
From particles such as neutrinos to coding language using python
The Detector Itself
Underneath the scientific base is a cubic kilometer detector, or many strings of digital optical modules (D.O.M.). These DOMs are what detect the neutrinos or their interference with other particles. There are about 86 strings and 5160 DOMs that make up the detector. The DOMs are basketball-shaped detectors that emit Cherenkov light when sensing a disturbance between particles.
High-Energy Messenger Particles
These multi-messenger particles are called neutrinos. They are subatomic, nearly-massless particles that have no change and are very hard to detect. The only way they are detected is through their interacting with other particles and the IceCube detector. (There are other detectors around the world but they are not as sophisticated as IceCube and don't use ice as part of the detector.)
Cherenkov Light
Cherenkov light is electromagnetic radiation that is emitted when a charged particle (such as a neutrino) passes through a dielectric medium (the D.O.M.s)Â at a speed greater than the phase velocity (speed of propagation of a wavefront in a medium) of light in that medium. This light radiates its characteristic blue glow when there is an interaction between particles and is picked up but the detector.
Tracy the Turtle: Python Coding
Tracy the Turtle is an online python-coding tool used for classroom groups and singular use. Throughout the internship this coding tool (code.HS) was used to learn some python for a projected that we each would create using coding and for educational purposes because much of astrophysics and many other sciences use computer coding.