First search for extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades with IceCube

We report on the first search for extraterrestrial neutrino-induced cascades in IceCube. The analyzed data were collected in the year 2007 when 22 detector strings were installed and operated. We will discuss the analysis methods used to reconstruct cascades and to suppress backgrounds. Simulated neutrino signal events with a E-2 energy spectrum, which pass the background rejection criteria, are reconstructed with a resolution Delta(log E) ∼ 0.27 in the energy range from ∼ 20 TeV to a few PeV. We present the range of the diffuse flux of extra-terrestrial neutrinos in the cascade channel in IceCube within which we expect to be able to put a limit.