Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 105: Methods in Astroparticle Physics V

T 105.4: Talk

Friday, March 20, 2026, 09:45–10:00, KS 00.004

Calibration and Long-term Monitoring for IceCube Upgrade mDOMs without Artificial Light Sources — •Carolin Klein and Summer Blot — DESY, Zeuthen, Germany

Since 2011, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has yielded important results in neutrino astronomy and neutrino physics. The IceCube Upgrade expands this detector. A higher photomultiplier (PMT) density decreases the energy threshold of the experiment, enabling more detailed studies of atmospheric neutrino oscillations at the GeV scale. Current calibration routines of the multi-PMT digital optical module (mDOM) included in the IceCube Upgrade require artificial light produced by LEDs. In this talk, calibration methods without such light sources are presented, enabling calibration even in the case of an LED dysfunction. The calibration of the PMT gain and mainboard electronics is instead performed using dark noise, mainly induced by radioactive decays in the glass components of the module. The dark noise based methods can also be used in-situ for long-term monitoring of the calibrated properties during detector up-time. A long-term monitoring test stand based on these approaches was setup and operated in a laboratory. The goal is to assess the stability of calibration constants and mDOM performance over time in a well-controlled laboratory environment. In this talk, the first results of these measurements will be presented.

Keywords: IceCube Upgrade; mDOM; PMT; Calibration