University of Wisconsin, Madison | 2019 Jul 16
IceCube, the Antarctic neutrino detector that in July of 2018 helped unravel one of the oldest riddles in physics and astronomy — the origin of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays — is getting an upgrade.What is the IceCube Upgrade? Credit: IceCube CollaborationClick to play embedded YouTube video.
This month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) approved $23 million in funding to expand the detector and its scientific capabilities. Seven new strings of optical modules will be added to the 86 existing strings, adding more than 700 new, enhanced optical modules to the 5,160 sensors already embedded in the ice beneath the geographic South Pole.
The upgrade, to be installed during the 2022–23 polar season, will receive additional support from international partners in Japan and Germany as well as from Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Total new investment in the detector will be about $37 million. ...
The principal goal of the upgrade ... is to expand the cubic-kilometer detector in a way that permits more precise studies of the oscillation properties of neutrinos, which as they interact with other particles and transit space can change or oscillate from one type of neutrino to another. ...
UW Lab Gears Up for Another Antarctic Drilling Campaign
University of Wisconsin, Madison | 2019 Jul 16