Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube

M.G. Aartsen; Abraham Kalikstein; M. Ackermann; J. Adams; J.A. Aguilar; M. Ahlers; M. Ahrens; D. Altmann; T. Anderson; M. Archinger; David Jason Koskinen; Michael James Larson; Michael Marc Wolf; Morten Ankersen Medici; Subir Sarkar; J. Sandroos

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.115.081102

Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube

M.G. Aartsen, Abraham Kalikstein, M. Ackermann, J. Adams, J.A. Aguilar, M. Ahlers, M. Ahrens, D. Altmann, T. Anderson, M. Archinger, David Jason Koskinen, Michael James Larson, Michael Marc Wolf, Morten Ankersen Medici, Subir Sarkar, J. Sandroos

226 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have recently provided compelling evidence for the existence of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux utilizing a dominantly Southern Hemisphere data set consisting primarily of νe and ντ charged-current and neutral-current (cascade) neutrino interactions. In the analysis presented here, a data sample of approximately 35000 muon neutrinos from the Northern sky is extracted from data taken during 659.5 days of live time recorded between May 2010 and May 2012. While this sample is composed primarily of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in Earth's atmosphere, the highest energy events are inconsistent with a hypothesis of solely terrestrial origin at 3.7σ significance. These neutrinos can, however, be explained by an astrophysical flux per neutrino flavor at a level of Φ(Eν)=9.9-3.4+3.9×10-19GeV-1cm-2sr-1s-1(Eν/100TeV)-2, consistent with IceCube's Southern-Hemisphere-dominated result. Additionally, a fit for an astrophysical flux with an arbitrary spectral index is performed. We find a spectral index of 2.2-0.2+0.2, which is also in good agreement with the Southern Hemisphere result.

Original language	English
Article number	081102
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	115
Issue number	8
ISSN	0031-9007
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.115.081102
Publication status	Published - 20 Aug 2015

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Aartsen, M. G., Kalikstein, A., Ackermann, M., Adams, J., Aguilar, J. A., Ahlers, M., Ahrens, M., Altmann, D., Anderson, T., Archinger, M., Koskinen, D. J., Larson, M. J., Wolf, M. M., Medici, M. A., Sarkar, S., & Sandroos, J. (2015). Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube. Physical Review Letters, 115(8), [081102]. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.115.081102

Aartsen, MG, Kalikstein, A, Ackermann, M, Adams, J, Aguilar, JA, Ahlers, M, Ahrens, M, Altmann, D, Anderson, T, Archinger, M, Koskinen, DJ, Larson, MJ, Wolf, MM, Medici, MA, Sarkar, S & Sandroos, J 2015, 'Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube', Physical Review Letters, vol. 115, no. 8, 081102. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.115.081102

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title = "Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube",

abstract = "Results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have recently provided compelling evidence for the existence of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux utilizing a dominantly Southern Hemisphere data set consisting primarily of νe and ντ charged-current and neutral-current (cascade) neutrino interactions. In the analysis presented here, a data sample of approximately 35000 muon neutrinos from the Northern sky is extracted from data taken during 659.5 days of live time recorded between May 2010 and May 2012. While this sample is composed primarily of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in Earth's atmosphere, the highest energy events are inconsistent with a hypothesis of solely terrestrial origin at 3.7σ significance. These neutrinos can, however, be explained by an astrophysical flux per neutrino flavor at a level of Φ(Eν)=9.9-3.4+3.9×10-19GeV-1cm-2sr-1s-1(Eν/100TeV)-2, consistent with IceCube's Southern-Hemisphere-dominated result. Additionally, a fit for an astrophysical flux with an arbitrary spectral index is performed. We find a spectral index of 2.2-0.2+0.2, which is also in good agreement with the Southern Hemisphere result.",

author = "M.G. Aartsen and Abraham Kalikstein and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J.A. Aguilar and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and D. Altmann and T. Anderson and M. Archinger and Koskinen, {David Jason} and Larson, {Michael James} and Wolf, {Michael Marc} and Medici, {Morten Ankersen} and Subir Sarkar and J. Sandroos",

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AU - Aartsen, M.G.

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AU - Aguilar, J.A.

AU - Ahlers, M.

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Altmann, D.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Archinger, M.

AU - Koskinen, David Jason

AU - Larson, Michael James

AU - Wolf, Michael Marc

AU - Medici, Morten Ankersen

AU - Sarkar, Subir

AU - Sandroos, J.

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N2 - Results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have recently provided compelling evidence for the existence of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux utilizing a dominantly Southern Hemisphere data set consisting primarily of νe and ντ charged-current and neutral-current (cascade) neutrino interactions. In the analysis presented here, a data sample of approximately 35000 muon neutrinos from the Northern sky is extracted from data taken during 659.5 days of live time recorded between May 2010 and May 2012. While this sample is composed primarily of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in Earth's atmosphere, the highest energy events are inconsistent with a hypothesis of solely terrestrial origin at 3.7σ significance. These neutrinos can, however, be explained by an astrophysical flux per neutrino flavor at a level of Φ(Eν)=9.9-3.4+3.9×10-19GeV-1cm-2sr-1s-1(Eν/100TeV)-2, consistent with IceCube's Southern-Hemisphere-dominated result. Additionally, a fit for an astrophysical flux with an arbitrary spectral index is performed. We find a spectral index of 2.2-0.2+0.2, which is also in good agreement with the Southern Hemisphere result.

AB - Results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have recently provided compelling evidence for the existence of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux utilizing a dominantly Southern Hemisphere data set consisting primarily of νe and ντ charged-current and neutral-current (cascade) neutrino interactions. In the analysis presented here, a data sample of approximately 35000 muon neutrinos from the Northern sky is extracted from data taken during 659.5 days of live time recorded between May 2010 and May 2012. While this sample is composed primarily of neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in Earth's atmosphere, the highest energy events are inconsistent with a hypothesis of solely terrestrial origin at 3.7σ significance. These neutrinos can, however, be explained by an astrophysical flux per neutrino flavor at a level of Φ(Eν)=9.9-3.4+3.9×10-19GeV-1cm-2sr-1s-1(Eν/100TeV)-2, consistent with IceCube's Southern-Hemisphere-dominated result. Additionally, a fit for an astrophysical flux with an arbitrary spectral index is performed. We find a spectral index of 2.2-0.2+0.2, which is also in good agreement with the Southern Hemisphere result.

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Evidence for Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos from the Northern Sky with IceCube

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