University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA · founded 2010
Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC)
The institutional lead of the international IceCube collaboration, operating a cubic-kilometer instrumented volume of Antarctic ice as the world's largest neutrino telescope. WIPAC also coordinates real-time alert infrastructure connecting IceCube to the multi-messenger astronomy community.
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Focus
Leadership and operation of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, plus development of the planned IceCube-Gen2 upgrade.
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Host institution
WIPAC — the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center — is part of the Physics Department and the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wisconsin has led IceCube since its design phase in the 1990s, though the detector itself is operated as an international collaboration of over 300 scientists across 14 countries.
IceCube operations
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (see IceCube experiment page) comprises 5,160 optical modules deployed on 86 strings at depths of 1,450–2,450 m in the Antarctic ice. Operation is continuous, year-round, with on-site staff maintained through the Antarctic winter by the U.S. Antarctic Program.
WIPAC’s operational responsibilities include:
- Real-time data processing and quality monitoring
- Management of the alert system (IceCube astrophysical multi-messenger alerts)
- Software, simulation, and analysis infrastructure for the collaboration
- Deployment planning for the IceCube-Upgrade (seven additional strings) and IceCube-Gen2 (an 8 km³ future extension)
Significance
IceCube and WIPAC have placed neutrino astronomy on the multi-messenger map. The 2017 TXS 0506+056 blazar correlation — triggered by an IceCube real-time alert and followed up across the electromagnetic spectrum — marked the field’s entry into the same routine of coordinated observation that gravitational-wave astronomy achieved with GW170817.