R. Young

A first search for cosmogenic neutrinos with the ARIANNA Hexagonal Radio Array

The ARIANNA experiment seeks to observe the diffuse flux of neutrinos in the 10 − 10 GeV energy range using a grid of radio detectors at the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. The detector measures the coherent Cherenkov radiation produced at radio frequencies, from about 100 MHz to 1 GHz, by charged particle showers generated by neutrino interactions in the ice. The ARIANNA Hexagonal Radio Array (HRA) is being constructed as a prototype for the full array. During the 2013-14 austral summer, three HRA stations collected radio data which was wirelessly transmitted off site in nearly real-time. The performance of these stations is described and a simple analysis to search for neutrino signals is presented. The analysis employs a set of three cuts that reject background triggers while preserving 90% of simulated cosmogenic neutrino triggers. No neutrino candidates are found in the data and a model-independent 90% confidence level Neyman upper limit is placed on the all flavor ν + ν̄ flux in a sliding decade-wide energy bin. The limit reaches a minimum of 1.9×10−23 GeV−1 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 in the 10 − 10 GeV energy bin. Simulations of the performance of the full detector are also described. The sensitivity of the full ARIANNA experiment is presented and compared with current neutrino flux models.

Performance of two Askaryan Radio Array stations and first results in the search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos

Ultrahigh energy neutrinos are interesting messenger particles since, if detected, they can transmit exclusive information about ultrahigh energy processes in the Universe. These particles, with energies above 1016 eV, interact very rarely. Therefore, detectors that instrument several gigatons of matter are needed to discover them. The ARA detector is currently being constructed at the South Pole. It is designed to use the Askaryan effect, the emission of radio waves from neutrino-induced cascades in the South Pole ice, to detect neutrino interactions at very high energies. With antennas distributed among 37 widely separated stations in the ice, such interactions can be observed in a volume of several hundred cubic kilometers. Currently three deep ARA stations are deployed in the ice, of which two have been taking data since the beginning of 2013. In this article, the ARA detector “as built” and calibrations are described. Data reduction methods used to distinguish the rare radio signals from overwhelming backgrounds of thermal and anthropogenic origin are presented. Using data from only two stations over a short exposure time of 10 months, a neutrino flux limit of 1.5 × 10−6 GeV=cm2=s=sr is calculated for a particle energy of 1018 eV, which offers promise for the full ARA detector.

Time-domain response of the ARIANNA detector

Abstract The Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf Antenna Neutrino Array (ARIANNA) is a high-energy neutrino detector designed to record the Askaryan electric field signature of cosmogenic neutrino interactions in ice. To understand the inherent radio-frequency (RF) neutrino signature, the time-domain response of the ARIANNA RF receiver must be measured. ARIANNA uses Create CLP5130-2N log-periodic dipole arrays (LPDAs). The associated effective height operator converts incident electric fields to voltage waveforms at the LDPA terminals. The effective height versus time and incident angle was measured, along with the associated response of the ARIANNA RF amplifier. The results are verified by correlating to field measurements in air and ice, using oscilloscopes. Finally, theoretical models for the Askaryan electric field are combined with the detector response to predict the neutrino signature.

Design and Performance of the ARIANNA HRA-3 Neutrino Detector Systems

We report on the development, installation, and operation of the first three of seven stations deployed at the ARIANNA sites pilot Hexagonal Radio Array (HRA) in Antarctica. The primary goal of the ARIANNA project is to observe ultrahigh energy ( > 100 PeV) cosmogenic neutrino signatures using a large array of autonomous stations, each 1 km apart on the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf. Sensing radio emissions of 100 MHz to 1 GHz, each station in the array contains RF antennas, amplifiers, 1.92 G-sample/s, 850 MHz bandwidth signal acquisition circuitry, pattern-matching trigger capabilities, an embedded CPU, 32 GB of solid-state data storage, and long-distance wireless and satellite communications. Power is provided by the sun and buffered in LiFePO 4 storage batteries, and each station consumes an average of 7 W of power. Operation on solar power has resulted in ≥58% per calendar-year live-time. The stations pattern-trigger capabilities reduce the trigger rates to a few milli-Hertz with 4-sigma voltage thresholds while retaining good stability and high efficiency for neutrino signals. The timing resolution of the station has been found to be 0.049 ns, RMS, and the angular precision of event reconstructions of signals bounced off of the sea-ice interface of the Ross Ice Shelf ranged from 0.14 to 0.17 °.

Antarctic Surface Reflectivity Measurements from the ANITA-3 and HiCal-1 Experiments

The primary science goal of the NASA-sponsored ANITA project is measurement of ultra-high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, observed via radio-frequency signals resulting from a neutrino or cosmic ray interaction with terrestrial matter (e.g. atmospheric or ice molecules). Accurate inference of the energies of these cosmic rays requires understanding the transmission/reflection of radio wave signals across the ice–air boundary. Satellite-based measurements of Antarctic surface reflectivity, using a co-located transmitter and receiver, have been performed more-or-less continuously for the last few decades. Our comparison of four different reflectivity surveys, at frequencies ranging from 2 to 45GHz and at near-normal incidence, yield generally consistent maps of high versus low reflectivity, as a function of location, across Antarctica. Using the Sun as an RF source, and the ANITA-3 balloon borne radio-frequency antenna array as the RF receiver, we have also measured the surface reflectivity over the interval 200–1000MHz, at elevation angles of 12–30∘. Consistent with our previous measurement using ANITA-2, we find good agreement, within systematic errors (dominated by antenna beam width uncertainties) and across Antarctica, with the expected reflectivity as prescribed by the Fresnel equations. To probe low incidence angles, inaccessible to the Antarctic Solar technique and not probed by previous satellite surveys, a novel experimental approach (“HiCal-1”) was devised. Unlike previous measurements, HiCal-ANITA constitute a bi-static transmitter–receiver pair separated by hundreds of kilometers. Data taken with HiCal, between 200 and 600MHz shows a significant departure from the Fresnel equations, constant with frequency over that band, with the deficit increasing with obliquity of incidence, which we attribute to the combined effects of possible surface roughness, surface grain effects, radar clutter and/or shadowing of the reflection zone due to Earth curvature effects. We discuss the science implications of the HiCal results, as well as improvements planned for HiCal-2, preparing for launch in December 2016.

Design, Modeling and Testing of the Askaryan Radio Array South Pole Autonomous Renewable Power Stations

We describe the design, construction and operation of the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) Autonomous Renewable Power Stations, initially installed at the South Pole in December, 2010 with the goal of providing an independently operating 100 W power source capable of year-round operation in extreme environments. In addition to particle astrophysics applications at the South Pole, such a station can easily be, and has since been, extended to operation elsewhere, as described herein.

Dynamic tunable notch filters for the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA)

Abstract The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is a NASA long-duration balloon experiment with the primary goal of detecting ultra-high-energy ( > 1 0 18 eV ) neutrinos via the Askaryan Effect. The fourth ANITA mission, ANITA-IV, recently flew from Dec 2 to Dec 29, 2016. For the first time, the Tunable Universal Filter Frontend (TUFF) boards were deployed for mitigation of narrow-band, anthropogenic noise with tunable, switchable notch filters. The TUFF boards also performed second-stage amplification by approximately 45 dB to boost the ∼ μ V-level radio frequency (RF) signals to ∼ mV-level for digitization, and supplied power via bias tees to the first-stage, antenna-mounted amplifiers. The other major change in signal processing in ANITA-IV is the resurrection of the 90 ° hybrids deployed previously in ANITA-I, in the trigger system, although in this paper we focus on the TUFF boards. During the ANITA-IV mission, the TUFF boards were successfully operated throughout the flight. They contributed to a factor of 2.8 higher total instrument livetime on average in ANITA-IV compared to ANITA-III due to reduction of narrow-band, anthropogenic noise before a trigger decision is made.

Implementation of a custom time-domain firmware trigger for RADAR-based cosmic ray detection

Abstract Interest in Radio-based detection schemes for ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) has surged in recent years, owing to the potentially very low cost/detection ratio. The method of radio-frequency (RF) scatter has been proposed as potentially the most economical detection technology. Though the first dedicated experiment to employ this method, the Telescope Array RADAR experiment (TARA) reported no signal, efforts to develop more robust and sensitive trigger techniques continue. This paper details the development of a time-domain firmware trigger that exploits characteristics of the expected scattered signal from an UHECR extensive-air shower (EAS). The improved sensitivity of this trigger is discussed, as well as implementation in two separate field deployments from 2016 to 2017.

Antarctic surface reflectivity calculations and measurements from the ANITA-4 and HiCal-2 experiments

The balloon-borne HiCal radio-frequency (RF) transmitter, in concert with the ANITA radio-frequency receiver array, is designed to measure the Antarctic surface reflectivity in the RF wavelength regime. The amplitude of surface-reflected transmissions from HiCal, registered as triggered events by ANITA, can be compared with the direct transmissions preceding them by O ( 10 ) microseconds, to infer the surface power reflection coefficient R . The first HiCal mission (HiCal-1, Jan. 2015) yielded a sample of 100 such pairs, resulting in estimates of R at highly glancing angles (i.e., zenith angles approaching 90°), with measured reflectivity for those events which exceeded extant calculations [P. W. Gorham et al., Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, 1740002 (2017)]. The HiCal-2 experiment, flying from December 2016–January 2017, provided an improvement by nearly 2 orders of magnitude in our event statistics, allowing a considerably more precise mapping of the reflectivity over a wider range of incidence angles. We find general agreement between the HiCal-2 reflectivity results and those obtained with the earlier HiCal-1 mission, as well as estimates from Solar reflections in the radio-frequency regime [D. Z. Besson et al., Radio Sci. 50, 1 (2015)]. In parallel, our calculations of expected reflectivity have matured; herein, we use a plane-wave expansion to estimate the reflectivity R from both a flat, smooth surface (and, in so doing, recover the Fresnel reflectivity equations) and also a curved surface. Multiplying our flat-smooth reflectivity by improved Earth curvature and surface roughness corrections now provides significantly better agreement between theory and the HiCal-2 measurements.

Constraints on the ultra-high-energy neutrino flux from Gamma-Ray bursts from a prototype station of the Askaryan radio array

Abstract We report on a search for ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the data set collected by the Testbed station of the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) in 2011 and 2012. From 57 selected GRBs, we observed no events that survive our cuts, which is consistent with 0.12 expected background events. Using NeuCosmA as a numerical GRB reference emission model, we estimate upper limits on the prompt UHE GRB neutrino fluence and quasi-diffuse flux from 10 7 to 10 10 GeV. This is the first limit on the prompt UHE GRB neutrino quasi-diffuse flux above 10 7 GeV.