Ghost Hunters: IceCube - A Neutrino Window on the Universe [GEANNULEERD]

The IceCube project at the South Pole melted 86 holes over 2.5 kilometers deep in the Antarctic icecap to construct an enormous astronomical observatory. The experiment recently discovered a gigantic flux of neutrinos reaching us from the cosmos, with energies a million times those of neutrinos produced at accelerator laboratories! The observation launches an entirely new way to study the universe, especially because these cosmic neutrinos are astronomical messengers reaching us from some of the most violent processes in the early universe and from the biggest explosions since the Big Bang.

Professor Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin-Madison) will discuss the IceCube telescope and highlight the recent discovery that some high-energy neutrinos – and cosmic rays – originate in sources powered by rotating supermassive black holes.

Professor Francis Halzen is world famous for the development of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica (some even whisper of an imminent Nobel Prize). Halzen was born in Tienen and graduated at the University of Leuven in 1969. From 1972 on, he moved to Madison (USA). 5 years ago, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at te UGhent

This talk will be in English.

Photo: Kathrin Mallot, IceCube/NSF “The sun setting behind the IceCube Lab at the South Pole.”