Status and performance of the IceCube neutrino telescope

IceCube is the first cubic-kilometer-scale neutrino telescope under construction. Such a telescope is capable of extending the range of detectable neutrino fluxes by more than an order of magnitude compared to currently operating telescopes like AMANDA. When finished, IceCube will consist of a total of 4200 optical modules arranged on 70 strings. They are deployed in the years from 2006 to 2011 in the glacial ice covering the South Pole at depths between 1400m and 2400m. Their purpose is to detect the Cherenkov light from charged particles produced in high-energy neutrino interactions in the ice. Simultaneously, 80 surface detector stations equipped with the same modules are installed to measure signals from cosmic ray induced air showers. Since the beginning of 2006, 9 strings and 16 surface stations of IceCube are operational and extensive analyses have been performed on the data-set collected with them to test the performance of the IceCube detector design, including a first analysis of atmospheric neutrinos detected by IceCube. In the meantime the telescope continues to grow. In February 2007 more than 20 strings are expected to be deployed and operational and the effective area of IceCube reaches a size considerably larger than that of the existing neutrino telescopes. In this presentation we will give an overview of the current status, performance and the construction progress of the IceCube telescope. (orig.)