Observation of Seven Astrophysical Tau Neutrino Candidates with IceCube.

We report on a measurement of astrophysical tau neutrinos with 9.7 yr of IceCube data. Using convolutional neural networks trained on images derived from simulated events, seven candidate ν_{τ} events were found with visible energies ranging from roughly 20 TeV to 1 PeV and a median expected parent ν_{τ} energy of about 200 TeV. Considering backgrounds from astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos, and muons from π^{±}/K^{±} decays in atmospheric air showers, we obtain a total estimated background of about 0.5 events, dominated by non-ν_{τ} astrophysical neutrinos. Thus, we rule out the absence of astrophysical ν_{τ} at the 5σ level. The measured astrophysical ν_{τ} flux is consistent with expectations based on previously published IceCube astrophysical neutrino flux measurements and neutrino oscillations.

Observation of high-energy neutrinos from the Galactic plane.

The origin of high-energy cosmic rays, atomic nuclei that continuously impact Earth's atmosphere, is unknown. Because of deflection by interstellar magnetic fields, cosmic rays produced within the Milky Way arrive at Earth from random directions. However, cosmic rays interact with matter near their sources and during propagation, which produces high-energy neutrinos. We searched for neutrino emission using machine learning techniques applied to 10 years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. By comparing diffuse emission models to a background-only hypothesis, we identified neutrino emission from the Galactic plane at the 4.5σ level of significance. The signal is consistent with diffuse emission of neutrinos from the Milky Way but could also arise from a population of unresolved point sources.

Evidence for neutrino emission from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068.

A supermassive black hole, obscured by cosmic dust, powers the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068. Neutrinos, which rarely interact with matter, could provide information on the galaxy's active core. We searched for neutrino emission from astrophysical objects using data recorded with the IceCube neutrino detector between 2011 and 2020. The positions of 110 known gamma-ray sources were individually searched for neutrino detections above atmospheric and cosmic backgrounds. We found that NGC 1068 has an excess of [Formula: see text] neutrinos at tera-electron volt energies, with a global significance of 4.2σ, which we interpret as associated with the active galaxy. The flux of high-energy neutrinos that we measured from NGC 1068 is more than an order of magnitude higher than the upper limit on emissions of tera-electron volt gamma rays from this source.

Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

We present a search for an unstable sterile neutrino by looking for a resonant signal in eight years of atmospheric ν_{µ} data collected from 2011 to 2019 at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Both the (stable) three-neutrino and the 3+1 sterile neutrino models are disfavored relative to the unstable sterile neutrino model, though with p values of 2.8% and 0.81%, respectively, we do not observe evidence for 3+1 neutrinos with neutrino decay. The best-fit parameters for the sterile neutrino with decay model from this study are Δm_{41}^{2}=6.7_{-2.5}^{+3.9} eV^{2}, sin^{2}2θ_{24}=0.33_{-0.17}^{+0.20}, and g^{2}=2.5π±1.5π, where g is the decay-mediating coupling. The preferred regions of the 3+1+decay model from short-baseline oscillation searches are excluded at 90% C.L.

Strong Constraints on Neutrino Nonstandard Interactions from TeV-Scale ν_{µ} Disappearance at IceCube.

We report a search for nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) using eight years of TeV-scale atmospheric muon neutrino data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. By reconstructing incident energies and zenith angles for atmospheric neutrino events, this analysis presents unified confidence intervals for the NSI parameter ε_{µτ}. The best-fit value is consistent with no NSI at a p value of 25.2%. With a 90% confidence interval of -0.0041≤ε_{µτ}≤0.0031 along the real axis and similar strength in the complex plane, this result is the strongest constraint on any NSI parameter from any oscillation channel to date.

Search for Relativistic Magnetic Monopoles with Eight Years of IceCube Data.

We present an all-sky 90% confidence level upper limit on the cosmic flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles using 2886 days of IceCube data. The analysis was optimized for monopole speeds between 0.750c and 0.995c, without any explicit restriction on the monopole mass. We constrain the flux of relativistic cosmic magnetic monopoles to a level below 2.0×10^{-19} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} over the majority of the targeted speed range. This result constitutes the most strict upper limit to date for magnetic monopoles with ß≳0.8 and up to ß∼0.995 and fills the gap between existing limits on the cosmic flux of nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles.

Oxynet: A collective intelligence that detects ventilatory thresholds in cardiopulmonary exercise tests.

The problem of the automatic determination of the first and second ventilatory thresholds (VT1 and VT2) from cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) still leads to controversy. The reliability of the gold standard methodology (i.e. expert visual inspection) feeds into the debate and several authors call for more objective automatic methods to be used in the clinical practice. In this study, we present a framework based on a collaborative approach, where a web-application was used to crowd-source a large number (1245) of CPET data of individuals with different aerobic fitness. The resulting database was used to train and test an artificial intelligence (i.e. a convolutional neural network) algorithm. This automatic classifier is currently implemented in another web-application and was used to detect the ventilatory thresholds in the available CPET. A total of 206 CPET were used to evaluate the accuracy of the estimations against the expert opinions. The neural network was able to detect the ventilatory thresholds with an average mean absolute error of 178 (198) mlO2/min (11.1%, r = 0.97) and 144 (149) mlO2/min (6.1%, r = 0.99), for VT1 and VT2 respectively. The performance of the neural network in detecting VT1 deteriorated in case of individuals with poor aerobic fitness. Our results suggest the potential for a collective intelligence system to outperform isolated experts in ventilatory thresholds detection. However, the inclusion of a larger number of VT1 examples certified by a community of experts will be likely needed before the abilities of this collective intelligence can be translated into the clinical use of CPET.

Characteristics of the Diffuse Astrophysical Electron and Tau Neutrino Flux with Six Years of IceCube High Energy Cascade Data.

We report on the first measurement of the astrophysical neutrino flux using particle showers (cascades) in IceCube data from 2010-2015. Assuming standard oscillations, the astrophysical neutrinos in this dedicated cascade sample are dominated (∼90%) by electron and tau flavors. The flux, observed in the sensitive energy range from 16 TeV to 2.6 PeV, is consistent with a single power-law model as expected from Fermi-type acceleration of high energy particles at astrophysical sources. We find the flux spectral index to be γ=2.53±0.07 and a flux normalization for each neutrino flavor of ϕ_{astro}=1.66_{-0.27}^{+0.25} at E_{0}=100 TeV, in agreement with IceCube's complementary muon neutrino results and with all-neutrino flavor fit results. In the measured energy range we reject spectral indices γ≤2.28 at ≥3σ significance level. Because of high neutrino energy resolution and low atmospheric neutrino backgrounds, this analysis provides the most detailed characterization of the neutrino flux at energies below ∼100 TeV compared to previous IceCube results. Results from fits assuming more complex neutrino flux models suggest a flux softening at high energies and a flux hardening at low energies (p value ≥0.06). The sizable and smooth flux measured below ∼100 TeV remains a puzzle. In order to not violate the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background as measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, it suggests the existence of astrophysical neutrino sources characterized by dense environments which are opaque to gamma rays.

eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Search Using Eight Years of Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

The results of a 3+1 sterile neutrino search using eight years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory are presented. A total of 305 735 muon neutrino events are analyzed in reconstructed energy-zenith space to test for signatures of a matter-enhanced oscillation that would occur given a sterile neutrino state with a mass-squared differences between 0.01 and 100 eV^{2}. The best-fit point is found to be at sin^{2}(2θ_{24})=0.10 and Δm_{41}^{2}=4.5 eV^{2}, which is consistent with the no sterile neutrino hypothesis with a p value of 8.0%.

Observation of Radar Echoes from High-Energy Particle Cascades.

We report the observation of radar echoes from the ionization trails of high-energy particle cascades. Data were taken at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where the full electron beam (∼10^{9} e^{-} at ∼10 GeV/e^{-}) was directed into a plastic target to simulate an ultrahigh-energy neutrino interaction. The target was interrogated with radio waves, and coherent radio reflections from the cascades were detected with properties consistent with theoretical expectations. This is the first definitive observation of radar echoes from high-energy particle cascades, which may lead to a viable neutrino detection technology for energies ≳10^{16} eV.