PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Cosmic finding ushers in 'new age of astronomy'

UD researchers part of international team that identifies very high-energy neutrinos coming from outside our solar system

2013-11-22
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Andrea Boyle Tippett
aboyle@udel.edu
302-831-1421
University of Delaware
Cosmic finding ushers in 'new age of astronomy' UD researchers part of international team that identifies very high-energy neutrinos coming from outside our solar system

Neutrinos can zip right through your body, the walls of your house, entire planets, even emerging from near the surface of fascinating and frightening black holes.

And now, an international scientific collaboration that includes researchers from the University of Delaware has taken an 'astronomical' step forward in unmasking the origins of some of these high-energy particles, the so-called "messengers of the universe."

Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a novel telescope built with the support of the National Science Foundation over a mile deep in the Antarctic ice, the collaboration has observed 28 very high-energy particle events. These observations constitute the first solid evidence of neutrinos coming from "cosmic accelerators"—potentially such sources as exploding stars or accreting black holes. The research is the cover story of the Nov. 22 edition of Science.

"This is the first indication of very high-energy neutrinos coming from outside our solar system," says Francis Halzen, principal investigator of IceCube from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. "This is the dawn of a new age of astronomy."

The scientific team is working now to pinpoint where these neutrinos are coming from outside our solar system, according to Tom Gaisser, the Martin A. Pomerantz Chair of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware.

Gaisser leads a team of researchers in UD's Department of Physics and Astronomy who have been instrumental in constructing and maintaining the IceCube Observatory's surface array of detectors known as "IceTop" during the past decade. These detectors help scientists to rule out the interference caused by neutrinos produced locally in our atmosphere and to focus instead on more energetic particles produced light years away from Earth, possibly even in the radiation field leftover from the Big Bang, which most astronomers believe formed the universe.

"The universe is transparent to neutrinos," Gaisser explains. "Are they remnants from supernovae, did they emanate from gamma ray bursts, or were they accelerated from an accreting black hole? We do not have conclusive information about their origin yet."

According to Gaisser, the answer will depend on the number of neutrino events captured by IceCube, from which geometric calculations can be made to trace the high-energy neutrinos to specific astronomical sources.

Billions of neutrinos pass through every square inch of Earth every second, rarely interacting with matter because they have no electrical charge. The vast majority of these subatomic particles originate either in the sun or in Earth's atmosphere. Far rarer are neutrinos from the outer reaches of our galaxy or beyond, which have long been theorized to provide insights into the powerful cosmic objects from which they originate: supernovae, black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and other extreme extragalactic phenomena.

IceCube was designed to accomplish two major scientific goals: measure the flux, or rate, of high-energy neutrinos and try to identify some of their sources.

The analysis presented in Science reveals the first high-energy neutrino flux ever observed, a highly statistically significant signal that meets expectations for neutrinos originating in cosmic accelerators.

The 28 high-energy events were found in data collected by IceCube from May 2010 to May 2012 and analyzed for neutrino events exceeding 50 teraelectronvolts (TeV) coming from anywhere in the sky. The events cannot be explained by other neutrino fluxes nor by other high-energy events, such as muons, which are charged particles produced by the interaction of cosmic rays in the atmosphere.

"This is an important observation," Gaisser says. "It means that somewhere in the universe, there are high-intensity sources near a 'central engine,' and lots of collisions are occurring to produce the neutrinos."

IceCube comprises 5,160 digital optical modules suspended like beads on a necklace along 86 strings embedded in a cubic kilometer of ice beneath the South Pole. An additional 324 optical modules are frozen inside 162 IceTop tanks on the surface. The observatory detects neutrinos through the tiny flashes of blue light, called Cherenkov light, produced when these tiny particles interact in the ice.

Although IceCube is designed to do basic science, Gaisser says it also has yielded an important application—a GPS-based calibration system that tells the time accurately within three nanoseconds across all the observatory's sensors.

The IceCube collaboration includes 250 physicists and engineers from the U.S., Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Korea. The University of Delaware is one of 16 U.S. universities involved in the effort.



INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Rutgers-Camden nursing scholar develops tool for ostomy care

2013-11-22
Rutgers-Camden nursing scholar develops tool for ostomy care CAMDEN — Nurses caring for ostomy patients will now be equipped with an essential new tool that provides them with the first comprehensive guide to optimize ostomy management and enhance patient safety. ...

Healthy lifestyle before conception may increase likelihood of a healthy pregnancy

2013-11-22
Healthy lifestyle before conception may increase likelihood of a healthy pregnancy Leading a healthy lifestyle in the months prior to conception as well as during pregnancy could potentially decrease the chance of complications Leading a healthy lifestyle ...

Black hole birth captured by cosmic voyeurs

2013-11-22
Black hole birth captured by cosmic voyeurs Los Alamos scientists get ringside seats at rare event LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 21, 2013—Intelligent telescopes designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory got a front row seat recently for an unusual birth. "Los ...

SU2C researcher identifies potential treatment option for melanoma

2013-11-22
SU2C researcher identifies potential treatment option for melanoma The Allan H. (Bud) and Sue Selig Stand Up To Cancer Melanoma Innovative Research grant yields insight into melanoma drug resistance pathways and identifies potential new treatment option November ...

Racing particles from space

2013-11-22
Racing particles from space South Pole observatory IceCube delivers first indications of neutrinos from cosmic accelerators This news release is available in German. A wide variety of particles perpetually pound onto the Earth's atmosphere. ...

Climate change may disrupt butterfly flight seasons

2013-11-22
Climate change may disrupt butterfly flight seasons The flight season timing of a wide variety of butterflies is responsive to temperature and could be altered by climate change, according to a UBC study that leverages more than a century's worth of ...

Pre-eclampsia rates on the rise in the US

2013-11-22
Pre-eclampsia rates on the rise in the US Study shows a relative increase of 322 percent for severe pre-eclampsia November 20, 2013 -- A latest study by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical ...

Researchers map brain areas vital to understanding language

2013-11-22
Researchers map brain areas vital to understanding language CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When reading text or listening to someone speak, we construct rich mental models that allow us to draw conclusions about other people, objects, actions, events, mental ...

Breaking the code

2013-11-22
Breaking the code You may be sensitive to gluten, but you're not sure. Perhaps you can't put your finger on a recurring malaise, and your doctor is at a loss to figure it out. A diagnostic method recently developed by UC Santa Barbara ...

UCLA researchers' new technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis

2013-11-22
UCLA researchers' new technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis 'Deformability cytometry' can closely analyze more than 1,000 cells per second A team of researchers from UCLA and Harvard University have demonstrated a technique that, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

[Press-News.org] Cosmic finding ushers in 'new age of astronomy'
UD researchers part of international team that identifies very high-energy neutrinos coming from outside our solar system