Measurement of the ν μ energy spectrum with IceCube-79

• Published in: The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Vol. 77; no. 10; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Aartsen, M G, Altmann, D, Andeen, K, Anton, G, Archinger, M, Auffenberg, J, Axani, S, Beatty, J J, Besson, D Z, Bindig, D, Blaufuss, E, Bos, F, Braun, J, H-P Bretz, Chirkin, D, Classen, L, Cross, R, De Clercq, C, E del Pino Rosendo, Dembinski, H, de Wasseige, G, Díaz-Vélez, J C, V di Lorenzo, Dujmovic, H, Eberhardt, B, Eichmann, B, Evenson, P A, Felde, J, Fuchs, T, Ghorbani, K, Grant, D, Haack, C, Hanson, K, Helbing, K, Hellauer, R, Hignight, J, Hoffmann, R, Huang, F, Huber, M, S In, Ishihara, A, Japaridze, G S, Jero, K, Jones, B J P, Karg, T, Katz, U, Kelley, J L, Kintscher, T, Köpke, L, Kopper, C, Krings, K, Kroll, M, Krüger, C, Kunnen, J, Maggi, G, McNally, F, Meagher, K, Medici, M, Meures, T, Miarecki, S, Momenté, G, A O’Murchadha, Palczewski, T, Pankova, D V, Pepper, J A, Przybylski, G T, Rameez, M, Rawlins, K, Relethford, B, Richman, M, Ruhe, T, Sandrock, A, Schmidt, T, Schoenen, S, Soldin, D, Spiering, C, Stasik, A, Stettner, J, Sutherland, M, Taboada, I, Tenholt, F, Ter-Antonyan, S, Terliuk, A, Toale, P A, Unger, E, M van Rossem, J van Santen, Voge, M, Vogel, E, Walck, C, Wallraff, M, Waza, A, Whelan, B J, Wiebe, K, Wiebusch, C H, Wille, L, Wills, L, Wolf, M, Xu, D L, Yanez, J P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer Nature B.V 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Energy spectra; Flux; Machine learning; Neutrinos; South Pole
• ISSN: 1434-6044; 1434-6052
• DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5261-3

IceCube is a neutrino observatory deployed in the glacial ice at the geographic South Pole. The νμ energy unfolding described in this paper is based on data taken with IceCube in its 79-string configuration. A sample of muon neutrino charged-current interactions with a purity of 99.5% was selected by means of a multivariate classification process based on machine learning. The subsequent unfolding was performed using the software Truee. The resulting spectrum covers an Eν-range of more than four orders of magnitude from 125 GeV to 3.2 PeV. Compared to the Honda atmospheric neutrino flux model, the energy spectrum shows an excess of more than 1.9σ in four adjacent bins for neutrino energies Eν≥177.8TeV. The obtained spectrum is fully compatible with previous measurements of the atmospheric neutrino flux and recent IceCube measurements of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.