Testing the Pointing of IceCube Using the Moon Shadow in Cosmic-Ray-Induced Muons

The IceCube Collaboration

Testing the Pointing of IceCube Using the Moon Shadow in Cosmic-Ray-Induced Muons

The IceCube Collaboration

Physics and Astronomy

Stony Brook University

RWTH Aachen University
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
Loyola University Chicago
German Electron Synchrotron
University of Canterbury
Université libre de Bruxelles
University of Copenhagen
The Oskar Klein Centre
University of Geneva
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
University of Delaware
Harvard University
Marquette University
Pennsylvania State University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
University of California at Irvine
University of California at Berkeley
Ohio State University
University of Wuppertal
Ruhr University Bochum
Technical University of Munich
University of Rochester
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Padua
University of Kansas
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Uppsala University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

Abstract

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scaled detector located at the Geographic South Pole. The calibration of the directional reconstruction of neutrino-induced muons and the pointing accuracy of the detector have to be verified. For these purposes, the moon is used as a standard candle to not rely exclusively on simulated data: Cosmic rays get absorbed by the moon, which leads to a deficit of cosmic-ray-induced muons from the lunar direction that is measured with high statistics. The moon shadow analysis uses an unbinned maximum-likelihood method, which has been methodically improved, and uses a larger detector compared to previous analyses. This allows to observe the shadow with a large significance per month. In the first part, it is found that incorporating a moon disk model, a coordinate-dependent uncertainty scaling and an improved background estimation increase the significance compared to a previous more simplistic analysis. In the second part, the performance of two new directional muon reconstruction algorithms is verified.

Original language	English
Article number	1087
Journal	Proceedings of Science
Volume	395
State	Published - Mar 18 2022
Event	37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021 - Virtual, Berlin, Germany Duration: Jul 12 2021 → Jul 23 2021

Cite this

@article{0c33c7a661824b2585feb2753145deab,

title = "Testing the Pointing of IceCube Using the Moon Shadow in Cosmic-Ray-Induced Muons",

abstract = "The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scaled detector located at the Geographic South Pole. The calibration of the directional reconstruction of neutrino-induced muons and the pointing accuracy of the detector have to be verified. For these purposes, the moon is used as a standard candle to not rely exclusively on simulated data: Cosmic rays get absorbed by the moon, which leads to a deficit of cosmic-ray-induced muons from the lunar direction that is measured with high statistics. The moon shadow analysis uses an unbinned maximum-likelihood method, which has been methodically improved, and uses a larger detector compared to previous analyses. This allows to observe the shadow with a large significance per month. In the first part, it is found that incorporating a moon disk model, a coordinate-dependent uncertainty scaling and an improved background estimation increase the significance compared to a previous more simplistic analysis. In the second part, the performance of two new directional muon reconstruction algorithms is verified.",

author = "\{The IceCube Collaboration\} and Saskia Philippen and Thorsten Gl{\"u}senkamp and Sebastian Schindler and R. Abbasi and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and Aguilar, \{J. A.\} and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and C. Alispach and Alves, \{A. A.\} and Amin, \{N. M.\} and R. An and K. Andeen and T. Anderson and G. Anton and C. Arg{\"u}elles and Y. Ashida and S. Axani and X. Bai and Balagopal, \{A. V.\} and A. Barbano and Barwick, \{S. W.\} and B. Bastian and V. Basu and S. Baur and R. Bay and Beatty, \{J. J.\} and Becker, \{K. H.\} and \{Becker Tjus\}, J. and C. Bellenghi and S. BenZvi and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and Besson, \{D. Z.\} and G. Binder and D. Bindig and E. Blaufuss and S. Blot and M. Boddenberg and F. Bontempo and J. Borowka and S. B{\"o}ser and O. Botner and J. B{\"o}ttcher and E. Bourbeau and F. Bradascio and J. Braun and S. Bron and J. Kiryluk",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright owned by the author(s).; 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021 ; Conference date: 12-07-2021 Through 23-07-2021",

year = "2022",

month = mar,

day = "18",

language = "English",

volume = "395",

journal = "Proceedings of Science",

issn = "1824-8039",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Testing the Pointing of IceCube Using the Moon Shadow in Cosmic-Ray-Induced Muons

AU - The IceCube Collaboration

AU - Philippen, Saskia

AU - Glüsenkamp, Thorsten

AU - Schindler, Sebastian

AU - Abbasi, R.

AU - Ackermann, M.

AU - Adams, J.

AU - Aguilar, J. A.

AU - Ahlers, M.

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Alispach, C.

AU - Alves, A. A.

AU - Amin, N. M.

AU - An, R.

AU - Andeen, K.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Anton, G.

AU - Argüelles, C.

AU - Ashida, Y.

AU - Axani, S.

AU - Bai, X.

AU - Balagopal, A. V.

AU - Barbano, A.

AU - Barwick, S. W.

AU - Bastian, B.

AU - Basu, V.

AU - Baur, S.

AU - Bay, R.

AU - Beatty, J. J.

AU - Becker, K. H.

AU - Becker Tjus, J.

AU - Bellenghi, C.

AU - BenZvi, S.

AU - Berley, D.

AU - Bernardini, E.

AU - Besson, D. Z.

AU - Binder, G.

AU - Bindig, D.

AU - Blaufuss, E.

AU - Blot, S.

AU - Boddenberg, M.

AU - Bontempo, F.

AU - Borowka, J.

AU - Böser, S.

AU - Botner, O.

AU - Böttcher, J.

AU - Bourbeau, E.

AU - Bradascio, F.

AU - Braun, J.

AU - Bron, S.

AU - Kiryluk, J.

PY - 2022/3/18

Y1 - 2022/3/18

N2 - The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scaled detector located at the Geographic South Pole. The calibration of the directional reconstruction of neutrino-induced muons and the pointing accuracy of the detector have to be verified. For these purposes, the moon is used as a standard candle to not rely exclusively on simulated data: Cosmic rays get absorbed by the moon, which leads to a deficit of cosmic-ray-induced muons from the lunar direction that is measured with high statistics. The moon shadow analysis uses an unbinned maximum-likelihood method, which has been methodically improved, and uses a larger detector compared to previous analyses. This allows to observe the shadow with a large significance per month. In the first part, it is found that incorporating a moon disk model, a coordinate-dependent uncertainty scaling and an improved background estimation increase the significance compared to a previous more simplistic analysis. In the second part, the performance of two new directional muon reconstruction algorithms is verified.

AB - The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scaled detector located at the Geographic South Pole. The calibration of the directional reconstruction of neutrino-induced muons and the pointing accuracy of the detector have to be verified. For these purposes, the moon is used as a standard candle to not rely exclusively on simulated data: Cosmic rays get absorbed by the moon, which leads to a deficit of cosmic-ray-induced muons from the lunar direction that is measured with high statistics. The moon shadow analysis uses an unbinned maximum-likelihood method, which has been methodically improved, and uses a larger detector compared to previous analyses. This allows to observe the shadow with a large significance per month. In the first part, it is found that incorporating a moon disk model, a coordinate-dependent uncertainty scaling and an improved background estimation increase the significance compared to a previous more simplistic analysis. In the second part, the performance of two new directional muon reconstruction algorithms is verified.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85145018257

M3 - Conference article

SN - 1824-8039

VL - 395

JO - Proceedings of Science

JF - Proceedings of Science

M1 - 1087

T2 - 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021

Y2 - 12 July 2021 through 23 July 2021

ER -

Testing the Pointing of IceCube Using the Moon Shadow in Cosmic-Ray-Induced Muons

Abstract

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