Kara Hoffman
Department of Physics, University of Maryland
Astrophysics with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory instruments a cubic kilometer of clear, deep ice near the geographic South Pole. IceCube has announced the discovery of high energy astrophysical neutrinos ranging in energy up to ~10 PeV, including an event consistent with the Glashow resonance, as well as a population of tau neutrinos. A number of source candidates have been identified, including the blazar TSX0506+056, which was found as a result of multi messenger campaign prompted by the observation of a high energy neutrino, as well as the Seyfert galaxy NGC1068 and the Galactic plane. However, 85% of the observed diffuse neutrino emission has no identified source.
The sensitivity of IceCube has greatly exceeded its design sensitivity as the result of continuous innovation in analysis techniques, as well as an extensive calibration campaign to characterize the response of the hardware and the ice. In the austral summer of 2025-2026, we will be installing the first upgrade to the detector hardware since the original construction was completed in 2011. The IceCube Upgrade includes an extensive collection off of new calibration devices that will be used to further reduce systematics, increasing the sensitivity of the entire IceCube dataset, as well as a number of new optical module designs to inform the design of a proposed expansion of IceCube’s instrumented volume by an order of magnitude.
I will report on the status of IceCube’s astrophysical results and summarize the prospects for future observations.