Detection of the temporal variation of the Sun's cosmic ray shadow with
the IceCube detector
Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society
Authors:
IceCube Collaboration, MG Aartsen, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, M Ahrens, D Altmann, K Andeen, T Anderson, I Ansseau, G Anton, C Argüelles, J Auffenberg, S Axani, P Backes, H Bagherpour, X Bai, A Barbano, JP Barron, SW Barwick, V Baum, R Bay, JJ Beatty, J Becker Tjus, K-H Becker, S BenZvi, D Berley, E Bernardini, DZ Besson, G Binder, D Bindig, E Blaufuss, S Blot, C Bohm, M Börner, F Bos, S Böser, O Botner, E Bourbeau, J Bourbeau, F Bradascio, J Braun, H-P Bretz, S Bron, J Brostean-Kaiser, A Burgman, RS Busse, T Carver, C Chen, E Cheung, D Chirkin, K Clark, L Classen, GH Collin, JM Conrad, P Coppin, P Correa, DF Cowen, R Cross, P Dave, M Day, JPAM de André, C De Clercq, JJ DeLaunay, H Dembinski, K Deoskar, S De Ridder, P Desiati, KD de Vries, G de Wasseige, M de With, T DeYoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, H Dujmovic, M Dunkman, E Dvorak, B Eberhardt, T Ehrhardt, B Eichmann, P Eller, PA Evenson, S Fahey, AR Fazely, J Felde, K Filimonov, C Finley, A Franckowiak, E Friedman, A Fritz, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, E Ganster, S Garrappa, L Gerhardt, K Ghorbani, W Giang, T Glauch, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JG Gonzalez, D Grant, Z Griffith, C Haack, A Hallgren, L Halve, F Halzen, K Hanson, D Hebecker, D Heereman, K Helbing, R Hellauer, S Hickford, J Hignight, GC Hill, KD Hoffman, R Hoffmann, T Hoinka, B Hokanson-Fasig, K Hoshina, F Huang, M Huber, K Hultqvist, M Hünnefeld, R Hussain, S In, N Iovine, A Ishihara, E Jacobi, GS Japaridze, M Jeong, K Jero, BJP Jones, P Kalaczynski, W Kang, A Kappes, D Kappesser, T Karg, A Karle, U Katz, M Kauer, A Keivani, JL Kelley, A Kheirandish, J Kim, T Kintscher, J Kiryluk, T Kittler, SR Klein, R Koirala, H Kolanoski, L Köpke, C Kopper, S Kopper, DJ Koskinen, M Kowalski, K Krings, M Kroll, G Krückl, S Kunwar, N Kurahashi, A Kyriacou, M Labare, JL Lanfranchi, MJ Larson, F Lauber, K Leonard, M Leuermann, QR Liu, E Lohfink, CJ Lozano Mariscal, L Lu, J Lünemann, W Luszczak, J Madsen, G Maggi, KBM Mahn, Y Makino, S Mancina, IC Mariş, R Maruyama, K Mase, R Maunu, K Meagher, M Medici, M Meier, T Menne, G Merino, T Meures, S Miarecki, J Micallef, G Momenté, T Montaruli, RW Moore, M Moulai, R Nagai, R Nahnhauer, P Nakarmi, U Naumann, G Neer, H Niederhausen, SC Nowicki, DR Nygren, A Obertacke Pollmann, A Olivas, A O'Murchadha, E O'Sullivan, T Palczewski, H Pandya, DV Pankova, P Peiffer, JA Pepper, C Pérez de los Heros, D Pieloth, E Pinat, A Pizzuto, M Plum, PB Price, GT Przybylski, C Raab, M Rameez, L Rauch, K Rawlins, IC Rea, R Reimann, B Relethford, G Renzi, E Resconi, W Rhode, M Richman, S Robertson, M Rongen, C Rott, T Ruhe, D Ryckbosch, D Rysewyk, I Safa, SE Sanchez Herrera, A Sandrock, J Sandroos, M Santander, S Sarkar, S Sarkar, K Satalecka, M Schaufel, P Schlunder, T Schmidt, A Schneider, J Schneider, S Schöneberg, L Schumacher, S Sclafani, D Seckel, S Seunarine, J Soedingrekso, D Soldin, M Song, GM Spiczak, C Spiering, J Stachurska, M Stamatikos, T Stanev, A Stasik, R Stein, J Stettner, A Steuer, T Stezelberger, RG Stokstad, A Stößl, NL Strotjohann, T Stuttard, GW Sullivan, M Sutherland, I Taboada, F Tenholt, S Ter-Antonyan, A Terliuk, S Tilav, PA Toale, MN Tobin, C Tönnis, S Toscano, D Tosi, M Tselengidou, CF Tung, A Turcati, R Turcotte, CF Turley, B Ty, E Unger, MA Unland Elorrieta, M Usner, J Vandenbroucke, W Van Driessche, D van Eijk, N van Eijndhoven, S Vanheule, J van Santen, M Vraeghe, C Walck, A Wallace, M Wallraff, FD Wandler, N Wandkowsky, TB Watson, C Weaver, MJ Weiss, C Wendt, J Werthebach, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, N Whitehorn, K Wiebe, CH Wiebusch, L Wille, DR Williams, L Wills, M Wolf, J Wood, TR Wood, E Woolsey, K Woschnagg, G Wrede, DL Xu, XW Xu, Y Xu, JP Yanez, G Yodh, S Yoshida, T Yuan
Abstract:
We report on the observation of a deficit in the cosmic ray flux from the
directions of the Moon and Sun with five years of data taken by the IceCube
Neutrino Observatory. Between May 2010 and May 2011 the IceCube detector
operated with 79 strings deployed in the glacial ice at the South Pole, and
with 86 strings between May 2011 and May 2015. A binned analysis is used to
measure the relative deficit and significance of the cosmic ray shadows. Both
the cosmic ray Moon and Sun shadows are detected with high statistical
significance ($>10\sigma$) for each year. The results for the Moon shadow are
consistent with previous analyses and verify the stability of the IceCube
detector over time. This work represents the first observation of the Sun
shadow with the IceCube detector. We show that the cosmic ray shadow of the Sun
varies with time. These results open the possibility to study cosmic ray
transport near the Sun with future data from IceCube.
