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Abu-Zayyad, T

Publications and source records attributed to Abu-Zayyad, T.

5 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

SEARCHES FOR PERIODIC NEUTRINO EMISSION FROM BINARY SYSTEMS WITH 22 AND 40 STRINGS OF ICECUBE

In this paper, we present the results of searches for periodic neutrino emission from a catalog of binary systems. Such modulation, observed in the photon flux, would be caused by the geometry of these systems. In the analysis, the period is fixed by these photon observations, while the phase and duration of the neutrino emission are treated as free parameters to be fit with the data. If the emission occurs during {approx}20% or less of the total period, this analysis achieves better sensitivity than a time-integrated analysis. We use the IceCube data taken from 2007 May 31 to 2008 April 5 with its 22 string configuration and from 2008 April 5 to 2009 May 20 with its 40 string configuration. No evidence for neutrino emission is found, with the strongest excess occurring for Cygnus X-3 at 2.1{sigma} significance after accounting for trials. Neutrino flux upper limits for both periodic and time-integrated emission are provided.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

OBSERVATION OF ANISOTROPY IN THE GALACTIC COSMIC-RAY ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS AT 400 TeV WITH ICECUBE

In this paper we report the first observation in the Southern hemisphere of an energy dependence in the Galactic cosmic-ray anisotropy up to a few hundred TeV. This measurement was performed using cosmic-ray-induced muons recorded by the partially deployed IceCube observatory between 2009 May and 2010 May. The data include a total of 33 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} muon events with a median angular resolution of {approx}3 Degree-Sign . A sky map of the relative intensity in arrival direction over the Southern celestial sky is presented for cosmic-ray median energies of 20 and 400 TeV. The same large-scale anisotropy observed at median energies around 20 TeV is not present at 400 TeV. Instead, the high-energy sky map shows a different anisotropy structure including a deficit with a post-trial significance of -6.3{sigma}. This anisotropy reveals a new feature of the Galactic cosmic-ray distribution, which must be incorporated into theories of the origin and propagation of cosmic rays.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

NEUTRINO ANALYSIS OF THE 2010 SEPTEMBER CRAB NEBULA FLARE AND TIME-INTEGRATED CONSTRAINTS ON NEUTRINO EMISSION FROM THE CRAB USING ICECUBE

We present the results of a search for high-energy muon neutrinos with the IceCube detector in coincidence with the Crab Nebula flare reported on 2010 September by various experiments. Due to the unusual flaring state of the otherwise steady source we performed a prompt analysis of the 79-string configuration data to search for neutrinos that might be emitted along with the observed {gamma}-rays. We performed two different and complementary data selections of neutrino events in the time window of 10 days around the flare. One event selection is optimized for discovery of E{sup -2}{sub {nu}} neutrino spectrum typical of first-order Fermi acceleration. A similar event selection has also been applied to the 40-string data to derive the time-integrated limits to the neutrino emission from the Crab. The other event selection was optimized for discovery of neutrino spectra with softer spectral index and TeV energy cutoffs as observed for various Galactic sources in {gamma}-rays. The 90% confidence level (CL) best upper limits on the Crab flux during the 10 day flare are 4.73 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -11} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} TeV{sup -1} for an E{sup -2}{sub {nu}} neutrino spectrum and 2.50 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -10} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} TeV{sup -1} for a softer neutrino spectra of E{sup -2.7}{sub {nu}}, as indicated by Fermi measurements during the flare. In this paper, we also illustrate the impact of the time-integrated limit on the Crab neutrino steady emission. The limit obtained using 375.5 days of the 40-string configuration is compared to existing models of neutrino production from the Crab and its impact on astrophysical parameters is discussed. The most optimistic predictions of some models are already rejected by the IceCube neutrino telescope with more than 90% CL.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

TIME-DEPENDENT SEARCHES FOR POINT SOURCES OF NEUTRINOS WITH THE 40-STRING AND 22-STRING CONFIGURATIONS OF ICECUBE

This paper presents four searches for flaring sources of neutrinos using the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, a search is performed over the entire parameter space of energy, direction, and time with sensitivity to neutrino flares lasting between 20 {mu}s and a year duration from astrophysical sources. Searches that integrate over time are less sensitive to flares because they are affected by a larger background of atmospheric neutrinos and muons that can be reduced by the use of additional timing information. Flaring sources considered here, such as active galactic nuclei, soft gamma-ray repeaters, and gamma-ray bursts, are promising candidate neutrino emitters. Two searches are 'untriggered' in the sense that they look for any possible flare in the entire sky and from a predefined catalog of sources from which photon flares have been recorded. The other two searches are triggered by multi-wavelength information on flares from blazars and from a soft gamma-ray repeater. One triggered search uses lightcurves from Fermi-LAT which provides continuous monitoring. A second triggered search uses information where the flux states have been measured only for short periods of time near the flares. The untriggered searches use data taken by 40 strings of IceCube between 2008 April 5 and 2009 May 20. The triggered searches also use data taken by the 22-string configuration of IceCube operating between 2007 May 31 and 2008 April 5. The results from all four searches are compatible with a fluctuation of the background.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗