IceCube South Pole neutrino detector completion events

In late April, researchers from around the world will gather in Madison, Wis., to mark the completion of the IceCube neutrino detector.

Composed of 5,160 detectors buried to a depth of 1.5 miles in pristine Antarctic ice, IceCube is designed to look through the Earth to search the sky in the Northern Hemisphere for signs of high-energy neutrinos, sub-atomic particles that emanate from some of the most violent events in the cosmos — exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic smash ups involving such things as black holes and neutron stars.

The giant detector, encompassing a cubic kilometer of the Antarctic ice cap, was built by an international consortium of organizations and is funded primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The IceCube observatory has been under construction for a decade and was completed in late 2010 as the last string of optical sensors was deployed in polar ice during the short Antarctic summer.

In acknowledgment of the detector’s completion, the University of Wisconsin–Madison will host an Antarctic science symposium April 27-28, as well as a meeting of particle astrophysicists April 29-30. The meetings will be held at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison. The IceCube team will also host a day of outreach events for the public on April 30, including a video presentation in a portable planetarium dome and a physics-themed dance party.

Journalists are welcome to attend any of the science events scheduled in recognition of the detector’s completion. For more information, click here.

For media credentials and information regarding coverage of IceCube events, contact Laurel Bacque, IceCube press officer at (608) 890-0369, laurel.bacque@icecube.wisc.edu.