Determining the physical parameters of astrophysical tau neutrinos discovered by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Ankita Dasgupta

Tau neutrinos are crucial to astrophysical studies as they are weakly interacting neutral particles that, when traced back, can reveal their cosmic origins. Unlike photons, tau neutrinos provide insights into otherwise obscured astrophysical events. Identifying high-energy tau neutrinos and distinguishing them from muon or electron neutrinos is essential for confirming their astrophysical origin.At the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, tau neutrinos interact with matter and produce Cherenkov radiation, resulting in a unique double cascade signature—a hadronic shower followed by a tau lepton decay cascade. Since IceCube detects only photon counts and timing information, reconstructing the neutrino event from limited sensor data is a key challenge. I used reconstruction techniques to test resolution differences with different sets of data and try different predictive models to get from sensor data to the high energy event.

Major: 
Astrophysics
Exhibition Category: 
Physical Sciences
Exhibition Format: 
Poster Presentation
Campus: 
University Park
Faculty Sponsor: 
Doug Cowen
Poster Number: 
188