The EHE Neutrino Search Capability of the IceCube Observatory

Abstract

An initial study of the extremely high energy (EHE) physics capabilityof the IceCube neutrino observatory is demonstrated by considering a GZK mechanism neutrino production model, which is a guaranteed source for EHE neutrinos. We study EHE event properties in the energy range $10^{5}$ $<$ E $<$ $10^{11}$ GeV observed by IceCube using detailed Monte Carlo simulation. Results of a simulation study show that about 0.7 EHE neutrino events per year is expected with the full IceCube configuration over a 0.03 atmospheric muon background which passed an EHE event criteria. It is also shown that with the present partial IceCube detector with the same criteria is capable of studying EHE physics and the sensitivity improves with the number of deployed strings in the ice.