{"id":23832,"date":"2016-09-15T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.zdv.uni-mainz.de\/fb08-prisma\/2016\/09\/15\/icecube-forschertreffen-in-mainz-neues-von-der-suche-nach-den-geisterteilchen\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T10:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:06:12","slug":"icecube-forschertreffen-in-mainz-neues-von-der-suche-nach-den-geisterteilchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/2016\/09\/15\/icecube-forschertreffen-in-mainz-neues-von-der-suche-nach-den-geisterteilchen\/","title":{"rendered":"IceCube researcher meeting in Mainz: News from the search for ghost particles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/jgu-base-pageheader><\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n
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Around 200 scientists from 12 countries who are jointly searching for neutrinos from space at the South Pole will meet at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) at the end of September. The main topic will be the planned expansion of the IceCube neutrino observatory in the Antarctic ice. Other researchers conducting similar experiments to search for cosmic neutrinos in the Mediterranean and at Lake Baikal will then join the meeting in Mainz on the first weekend in October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neutrinos are electrically neutral, almost massless elementary particles. They are also known as ghost particles, as they can easily penetrate the earth. “Sometimes, however, they react with atoms in pitch-black ice and produce a handful of light particles,” explains Prof. Dr. Lutz K\u00f6pke from the JGU Institute of Physics. The IceCube experiment is located at the geographic South Pole at a depth of 1450 to 2450 meters and uses sensitive sensors to search for these light signals in an “ice cube” with a volume of one cubic kilometer. In 2013, the experiment succeeded in detecting neutrinos from space for the first time. As the detector is in operation around the clock, the number of high-energy neutrinos detected has since been increased to almost one hundred. This enables ever more detailed investigations – another topic of the IceCube meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neutrinos produced by cosmic radiation on Earth are detected much more frequently than neutrinos from space – around 100,000 times a year. These neutrinos can be used, for example, to measure the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation, i.e. the quantum mechanical transformation of the three known types of neutrino. This quantum mechanical effect would also be the only way to discover neutrinos that do not react with matter at all, so-called sterile neutrinos. “New and interesting results on this will also be presented at our meeting,” noticed Prof. Dr. Sebastian B\u00f6ser from JGU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, one of the most important points of discussion at the meeting will be the planned expansion of the IceCube detector, which will significantly increase the accuracy of the measurements. Among other things, innovative light sensors are being developed for this purpose, which will limit costs on the one hand and further improve the capabilities of the experiment on the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mainz work group led by Professors Sebastian B\u00f6ser and Lutz K\u00f6pke is contributing to all of these research areas, in some cases in a leading role. In addition – parallel to the scientific program – a workshop on research communication for scientists will be offered, organized in cooperation with the School of Journalism at JGU. The meeting of the IceCube Collaboration will take place from September 24 to 30, the subsequent meeting with the neutrino search groups in the Mediterranean and Lake Baikal on 1st and October 2, 2016, in the lecture hall building at the new chemistry building, Duesbergweg, Mainz University campus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Around 200 scientists from 12 countries who are jointly searching for neutrinos from space at the South Pole will meet at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) at the end of September. The main topic will be the planned expansion of the IceCube neutrino observatory in the Antarctic ice. Other researchers conducting similar experiments to search … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":19164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"primary_category":{"id":105,"name":"Press release","slug":"press-release","parent":0,"breadcrumb":"Press release"},"media":{},"image":{"url":"https:\/\/cms.zdv.uni-mainz.de\/fb08-prisma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2025\/10\/08_physik_etap_icecube_neutrinos_03-scaled.jpg","credit":""},"index":"15.09.2016","assigned_date":"","external_link":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28835,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions\/28835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}