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Project
Studies of Cosmic Transient Phenomena related to Observed Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Ray Bursts with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. (FWOAL904)
Recently the discovery of cosmic high-energy neutrinos by IceCube and gravitational waves (GW) by LIGO opened new windows on the Universe. The sources of the cosmic neutrinos still remain a mystery, but it is expected that they originate from cataclysmic phenomena which also may induce gravitational waves. As such a combined investigation might provide insight in the progenitors and underlying physics related to both discoveries.
Neutrinos are excellent astrophysical messengers; they only interact weakly so they point back to their source and can convey information about the inner engines of cosmic phenomena.
A multi-messenger approach of GW events is very timely, since the upgraded detectors are now sensitive to mergers of neutron stars. In such mergers, recently observed as a progenitor of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), a relativistic outflow of matter is expected, resulting in a.o. a neutrino flux which can be detected by the IceCube neutrino observatory at the South Pole. In view of this, an agreement between LIGO/Virgo and IceCube has been put in place to issue alerts and exchange data. This nicely complements NASA’s existing alert system based on electromagnetic observations by satellites.
So far, searches for a prompt neutrino counterpart have not been successful. However, the proposed research will explore a novel, more sensitive method to search (also) for neutrinos during possible precursor and afterglow phases of both the GRB and GW phenomena.
Neutrinos are excellent astrophysical messengers; they only interact weakly so they point back to their source and can convey information about the inner engines of cosmic phenomena.
A multi-messenger approach of GW events is very timely, since the upgraded detectors are now sensitive to mergers of neutron stars. In such mergers, recently observed as a progenitor of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), a relativistic outflow of matter is expected, resulting in a.o. a neutrino flux which can be detected by the IceCube neutrino observatory at the South Pole. In view of this, an agreement between LIGO/Virgo and IceCube has been put in place to issue alerts and exchange data. This nicely complements NASA’s existing alert system based on electromagnetic observations by satellites.
So far, searches for a prompt neutrino counterpart have not been successful. However, the proposed research will explore a novel, more sensitive method to search (also) for neutrinos during possible precursor and afterglow phases of both the GRB and GW phenomena.
Date:1 Jan 2019 → 31 Dec 2022
Keywords:astroparticle physics, cosmic neutrinos, neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves
Disciplines:High energy astrophysics, astroparticle physics and cosmic rays, High energy physics, Gravitational radiation astrophysics