SN 2008D, a core collapse supernova at a distance of 27 Mpc, was
serendipitously discovered by the Swift satellite through an associated X-ray
flash. Core collapse supernovae have been observed in association with long
gamma-ray bursts and X-ray flashes and a physical connection is widely assumed.
This connection could imply that some core collapse supernovae possess mildly
relativistic jets in which high-energy neutrinos are produced through
proton-proton collisions. The predicted neutrino spectra would be detectable by
Cherenkov neutrino detectors like IceCube. A search for a neutrino signal in
temporal and spatial correlation with the observed X-ray flash of SN 2008D was
conducted using data taken in 2007-2008 with 22 strings of the IceCube
detector. Events were selected based on a boosted decision tree classifier
trained with simulated signal and experimental background data. The classifier
was optimized to the position and a "soft jet" neutrino spectrum assumed for SN
2008D. Using three search windows placed around the X-ray peak, emission time
scales from 100 - 10000 s were probed. No events passing the cuts were observed
in agreement with the signal expectation of 0.13 events. Upper limits on the
muon neutrino flux from core collapse supernovae were derived for different
emission time scales and the principal model parameters were constrained.
