Physics Colloquium - Professor Albrecht Karle

ABSTRACT

Today, much of the very high energy Universe is directly accessible only with neutrinos.  The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has been able to detect an energetic cosmic neutrino flux.  More recently, together with other telescopes, more recently, evidence for cosmic neutrinos and gamma rays  from a distant galaxy was reported by IceCube and a number of other ground and space based telescopes.  This strategy, multimessenger astrophysics is seen as the most promising path to close in on a better understanding on some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe.  In the meantime, preparations are underway for an upgrade of IceCube with optical and radio detectors.  

I will briefly describe the challenges of neutrino astronomy, the recent progress by IceCube and discuss the next generation upgrade at the South Pole.