The German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) is Germany’s largest research center for research with particle accelerators and particle physics, i.e. the physics of the subatomic building blocks of matter. However, the particles with the highest known energy are not produced by man-made accelerators, but originate from the cosmos. Special particles that trace the sources of this high-energy cosmic radiation are neutrinos. In order to measure them, international consortia are building huge telescopes in the ice masses of the Arctic and Antarctic. This is necessary because neutrinos hardly interact with matter, and naturally occurring, transparent media are used to obtain enough active detector volume. We instrument these cubic kilometers of ice with optical sensors and radio antennas. This provides interesting interfaces with polar research.
Research goals
- Identification of the sources of the highest-energy cosmic rays
- Studies of the properties of neutrinos as elementary particles
- Measurement and modeling of ice properties at the location of our detectors, since ice is the active detector volume
Methods
- Instrumentation of > 1 km3 with optical sensors at the South Pole at full depth (IceCube)
- Instrumentation of > 50 km3 with radio sensors in Greenland (Summit Camp) to a depth of 100m (RNO-G)
Responsible persons
Dr. Markus Ackermann (DESY)
Prof. Dr. Marek Kowalski (DESY)
Prof. Dr. Anna Nelles (DESY)
DESY coordinates the activities in polar neutrino astronomy in Germany, which are carried out at a large number of universities (RWTH Aachen, HU Berlin, U Bochum, TU Dortmund, U Erlangen-Nuremberg, KIT, U Mainz, TU Munich, U Münster, U Wuppertal).
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