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Boosted by dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase"):
dstndstn@hachyderm.io ("Dustin Lang") wrote:
@dysfun @DrHyde
From https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14844-0, it sounds [to me, a simple country astronomer] like the story is:- normally, IceCube detects very high energy cosmic rays that hit something in the Earth's atmosphere and then shower to the ground/ice/detector.
- during these air showers, there is a competition between particles decaying vs hitting an air molecule
- if it hits an air molecule, some of the energy goes there and isn't detected in neutrinos
- chances of hitting an air molecule depends on atmospheric air temperature and pressure
- Earth's axis is tilted enough that there is still plenty of seasonal variation at the south pole