Development of an in-situ calibration device of firn properties for Askaryan neutrino detectors

Anker A, Baldi P, Barwick SW, Beise J, Bernhoff H, Besson DZ, Bingefors N, Cataldo M, Chen P, Fernández DG, Gaswint G, Glaser C, Hallgren A, Hallmann S, Hanson JC, Klein SR, Kleinfelder SA, Lahmann R, Liu J, Magnuson M, McAleer S, Meyers Z, Nam J, Nelles A, Novikov A, Paul MP, Persichilli C, Plaisier I, Pyras L, Rice-Smith R, Tatar J, Wang SH, Welling C, Zhao L (2022)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2022

Journal

PoS - Proceedings of Science SISSA

Publisher: Sissa Medialab Srl

Book Volume: 395

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of Science

Event location: Virtual DE

Abstract

High energy neutrinos (E >1017 eV) are detected cost-efficiently via the Askaryan effect in ice, where a particle cascade induced by the neutrino interaction produces coherent radio emission that can be picked up by antennas installed below the surface. A good knowledge of the near surface ice (aka firn) properties is required to reconstruct the neutrino properties. In particular, a continuous monitoring of the snow accumulation (which changes the depth of the antennas) and the index-of-refraction profile are crucial for an accurate determination of the neutrino’s direction and energy. We present an in-situ calibration system that extends the radio detector station with a radio emitter to continuously monitor the firn properties by measuring time differences of direct and reflected (off the surface) signals (D’n’R). We optimized the station layout in a simulation study and quantified the achievable precision. We present 14 months of data of the ARIANNA detector on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, where a prototype of this calibration system was successfully used to monitor the snow accumulation with unprecedented precision of 1 mm. We explore and test several algorithms to extract the D’n’R time difference from noisy data (including deep learning). This constitutes an in-situ test of the neutrino vertex distance reconstruction using the D’n’R technique which is needed to determine the neutrino energy.

Authors with CRIS profile

Maddalena Cataldo Professur für Experimentelle Astroteilchenphysik, insbesondere Radionachweis von Neutrinos Anna Nelles Professur für Experimentelle Astroteilchenphysik, insbesondere Radionachweis von Neutrinos Ilse Plaisier Professur für Experimentelle Astroteilchenphysik, insbesondere Radionachweis von Neutrinos Christoph Welling Professur für Experimentelle Astroteilchenphysik, insbesondere Radionachweis von Neutrinos

Involved external institutions

University of California Irvine US United States (USA) (US) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) US United States (USA) (US) University of Kansas (KU) US United States (USA) (US) Uppsala University SE Sweden (SE) Whittier College US United States (USA) (US) National Taiwan University (NTU) TW Taiwan (TW) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Anker, A., Baldi, P., Barwick, S.W., Beise, J., Bernhoff, H., Besson, D.Z.,... Zhao, L. (2022). Development of an in-situ calibration device of firn properties for Askaryan neutrino detectors. In Proceedings of Science. Virtual, DE: Sissa Medialab Srl.

MLA:

Anker, Astrid, et al. "Development of an in-situ calibration device of firn properties for Askaryan neutrino detectors." Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021, Virtual Sissa Medialab Srl, 2022.

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