Project title: IceCube Neutrino Observatory and Infrastructure for astroparticle physics with neutrinos
Main applicant: Division of High Energy Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy
The IceCube Observatory at the South Pole is the world's leading international facility for the detection of high-energy neutrinos. Recent breakthroughs include the discovery of a flux of high-energy neutrinos of cosmic origin and the identification of the first likely source of such neutrinos. These discoveries have opened a new window on the Universe and make neutrinos a major resource in the emergent field of multi-messenger astronomy. The envisaged next-generation facility, IceCube-Gen2 (Gen2), will increase the annual rate of detected neutrinos by a factor of ten and through the addition of a radio array expand the observed energy range by three orders of magnitude. The grant will cover the Swedish contribution to the maintenance and operations common fund for IceCube and will allow us to participate in and contribute to the development of novel technologies to upgrade IceCube in view of Gen2. We identify four specific areas where a Swedish contribution in the near term meaningfully enhances the international efforts: the development and construction of shallow radio stations; the development of wind-driven power systems to maximize the live time of the radio stations, the development of photon collectors with increased photo-sensitive area to optimize photon detection efficiency, and the design of a new in-ice camera to directly view ice properties. These contributions will underscore Sweden’s influential role within IceCube and ensure Sweden’s standing in the future.
