RISE Germany Internship: Application of Data Mining Methods on IceCube Event Reconstructions

Abstract

In this report the results from a 3-month internship are presented. The goal of the internship was to apply data mining methods to low level IceCube data in order to reconstruct the particle energies. IceCube is a neutrino observatory located at the geographical South Pole, built with the aim of detecting high energy astrophysical neutrinos. The detector consists of 5160 photomultipliers, located 1.5-2.5 kilometers beneath the icecap, which detect Cherenkov light radiated by charged particle propagation through the ice. The reconstruction of detected events directly at the pole is challenging, due to heavy constraints on resources. Due to this, only rudimentary reconstructions are performed on-site. The final results are obtained months later, once the data has been transported from the detector. An effective and prompt reconstruction directly at the pole would open a lot of new possibilities for follow-up studies of detected events. The application of state-of-the-art data mining methods can help to obtain these reconstructions on-site.