Physics Colloquium: Neutrino Astronomy at the South Pole with IceCube

Thursday, October 4, 2018

3:30 PM-4:30 PM

Naoko Kurahashi Neilson, PhD, Drexel University

The Universe has been studied using light since the dawn of astronomy, when starlight captured the human eye. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located at the geographic South Pole, observes the Universe in a different and unique way: in high-energy neutrinos. IceCube's discovery in 2013 of a diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos, in other words, isotropic high-energy neutrinos from beyond the solar system, started an era of neutrino astronomy. This year, spectacular multiwavelength observations were made that indicate the first astronomical source to emit such astrophysical neutrinos being identified. I will motivate why neutrinos are a necessary messenger in high-energy astronomy, and review what these milestones mean. I will try to reconcile other IceCube analysis results to draw a coherent picture that is the state of neutrino astronomy.

Contact Information

Professor Gordon Richards
gtr@physics.drexel.edu