RASC Regular Meeting – The IceCube Neutrino Observatory: Chasing Particles in Antarctica
Event Ended- Where
- Telus World of Science - 11211 142 St NW, Edmonton, AB View Map
- When
- Buy
- Buy Tickets
- Ages
- Adults
- Website
- http://edmontonrasc.com/
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a particle detector built into a cubic kilometre of natural Antarctic glacier, located deep beneath the South Pole. It searches for interactions of a nearly massless subatomic particle called the neutrino. The IceCube observatory has a vast scientific program including searching for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources such as exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and neutron stars as well as looking for signals from possible dark matter sources like the galactic centre. It is also a powerful tool to study the neutrino itself.
I will introduce neutrinos, describe the IceCube detector and highlight some of the recent results obtained from the data taken by the detector. I will also explain how IceCube could help solve the 100-year old mystery of the origin of “Cosmic Rays” – a flux of immensely high-energy particles, mainly originating from somewhere outside the Solar System.