A large radio detector for neutrinos in the Antarctic Ice

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anna Nelles
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: from 2017 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 389908307

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The funding received from this Emmy-Noether project was a vital ingredient to start constructing the Radio Neutrino Observatory Greenland (RNO-G). RNO-G targets the discovery of astrophysical neutrinos of energies exceeding those that current world-leading detectors like IceCube can reach. By using radio emission that is generated following a neutrino interaction in the ice, RNO-G walks a new path in detector and technology development. It is the first large-scale instrument to use this technology, which requires fast microwave electronics and low-power instrumentation. In particular, fully autonomous power systems, wireless communication networks, and monitoring systems had to be developed to enable RNO-G in the extreme conditions on top of the ice-sheet in Greenland. Neutrinos of the highest energies provide crucial information about how cosmic rays are accelerated by the most violent processes in the Universe, such as when mass is falling into supermassive black-holes, and how these cosmic rays propagate to Earth. Earlycareer researchers employed through the project have provided a novel simulation framework, naturally open source for the community, developed first-of-their kind reconstruction methods, and have spent several months in Greenland starting to install the observatory. Construction of RNO-G will continue for at least 3 more years, with operations planned to take 10 years, which will lead to a highly sensitive measurement of the neutrino flux in a fully uncharted territory. A true discovery instrument.

Publications

• Neutrino vertex reconstruction with in-ice radio detectors using surface reflections and implications for the neutrino energy resolution. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2019(11), 030-030.
  Anker, A.; Barwick, S.W.; Bernhoff, H.; Besson, D.Z.; Bingefors, N.; García-Fernández, D.; Gaswint, G.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hanson, J.C.; Klein, S.R.; Kleinfelder, S.A.; Lahmann, R.; Latif, U.; Nam, J.; Novikov, A.; Nelles, A.; Paul, M.P.; Persichilli, C. ... & Zierke, S.
  
• NuRadioReco: a reconstruction framework for radio neutrino detectors. The European Physical Journal C, 79(6).
  Glaser, Christian; Nelles, Anna; Plaisier, Ilse; Welling, Christoph; Barwick, Steven W.; García-Fernández, Daniel; Gaswint, Geoffrey; Lahmann, Robert & Persichilli, Christopher
  
• Reconstructing the cosmic-ray energy from the radio signal measured in one single station. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2019(10), 075-075.
  Welling, C.; Glaser, C. & Nelles, A.
  
• A search for cosmogenic neutrinos with the ARIANNA test bed using 4.5 years of data. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2020(03), 053-053.
  Anker, A.; Barwick, S.W.; Bernhoff, H.; Besson, D.Z.; Bingefors, N.; García-Fernández, D.; Gaswint, G.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hanson, J.C.; Klein, S.R.; Kleinfelder, S.A.; Lahmann, R.; Latif, U.; Nam, J.; Novikov, A.; Nelles, A.; Paul, M.P.; Persichilli, C. ... & Welling, C.
  
• NuRadioMC: simulating the radio emission of neutrinos from interaction to detector. The European Physical Journal C, 80(2).
  Glaser, C.; García-Fernández, D.; Nelles, A.; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Barwick, S. W.; Besson, D. Z.; Clark, B. A.; Connolly, A.; Deaconu, C.; de Vries, K. D.; Hanson, J. C.; Hokanson-Fasig, B.; Lahmann, R.; Latif, U.; Kleinfelder, S. A.; Persichilli, C.; Pan, Y.; Pfendner, C.; Plaisier, I. ... & Wissel, S. A.
  
• Probing the angular and polarization reconstruction of the ARIANNA detector at the South Pole. Journal of Instrumentation, 15(09), P09039-P09039.
  Anker, A.; Barwick, S.W.; Bernhoff, H.; Besson, D.Z.; Bingefors, N.; García-Fernández, D.; Gaswint, G.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hanson, J.C.; Klein, S.R.; Kleinfelder, S.A.; Lahmann, R.; Latif, U.; Meyers, Z.S.; Nam, J.; Novikov, A.; Nelles, A.; Paul, M.P. ... & Welling, C.
  
• Signatures of secondary leptons in radio-neutrino detectors in ice. Physical Review D, 102(8).
  García-Fernández, D.; Nelles, A. & Glaser, C.
  
• Design and sensitivity of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G). Journal of Instrumentation, 16(03), P03025.
  Aguilar, J.A.; Allison, P.; Beatty, J.J.; Bernhoff, H.; Besson, D.; Bingefors, N.; Botner, O.; Buitink, S.; Carter, K.; Clark, B.A.; Connolly, A.; Dasgupta, P.; de Kockere, S.; de Vries, K.D.; Deaconu, C.; DuVernois, M.A.; Feigl, N.; García-Fernández, D.; Glaser, C. ... & Zink, A.
  
• IceCube-Gen2: the window to the extreme Universe. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 48(6), 060501.
  Aartsen, M. G.; Abbasi, R.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Ahrens, M.; Alispach, C.; Allison, P.; Amin, N. M.; Andeen, K.; Anderson, T.; Ansseau, I.; Anton, G.; Argüelles, C.; Arlen, T. C.; Auffenberg, J.; Axani, S.; Bagherpour, H. ... & Zöcklein, M.
  
• Reconstructing non-repeating radio pulses with Information Field Theory. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2021(04), 071.
  Welling, C.; Frank, P.; Enßlin, T. & Nelles, A.
  
• Improving sensitivity of the ARIANNA detector by rejecting thermal noise with deep learning. Journal of Instrumentation, 17(03), P03007.
  Anker, A.; Baldi, P.; Barwick, S.W.; Beise, J.; Besson, D.Z.; Bouma, S.; Cataldo, M.; Chen, P.; Gaswint, G.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hallmann, S.; Hanson, J.C.; Klein, S.R.; Kleinfelder, S.A.; Lahmann, R.; Liu, J.; Magnuson, M.; McAleer, S. ... & Zhao, L.
  
• In situ, broadband measurement of the radio frequency attenuation length at Summit Station, Greenland. Journal of Glaciology, 68(272), 1234-1242.
  Aguilar, J. A.; Allison, P.; Beatty, J. J.; Besson, D.; Bishop, A.; Botner, O.; Bouma, S.; Buitink, S.; Cataldo, M.; Clark, B. A.; Curtis-Ginsberg, Z.; Connolly, A.; Dasgupta, P.; de Kockere, S.; de Vries, K. D.; Deaconu, C.; DuVernois, M. A.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A. ... & Zink, A.
  
• Measuring the polarization reconstruction resolution of the ARIANNA neutrino detector with cosmic rays. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022(04), 022.
  Anker, A.; Baldi, P.; Barwick, S.W.; Beise, J.; Besson, D.Z.; Bouma, S.; Cataldo, M.; Chen, P.; Gaswint, G.; Glaser, C.; Hallgren, A.; Hallmann, S.; Hanson, J.C.; Klein, S.R.; Kleinfelder, S.A.; Lahmann, R.; Liu, J.; Magnuson, M.; McAleer, S. ... & Zhao, L.
  
• Reconstructing the neutrino energy for in-ice radio detectors. The European Physical Journal C, 82(2).
  Aguilar, J. A.; Allison, P.; Beatty, J. J.; Bernhoff, H.; Besson, D.; Bingefors, N.; Botner, O.; Bouma, S.; Buitink, S.; Carter, K.; Cataldo, M.; Clark, B. A.; Curtis-Ginsberg, Z.; Connolly, A.; Dasgupta, P.; de Kockere, S.; de Vries, K. D.; Deaconu, C.; DuVernois, M. A. ... & Zink, A.
  
• TAROGE-M: radio antenna array on antarctic high mountain for detecting near-horizontal ultra-high energy air showers. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022(11), 022.
  Wang, Shih-Hao; Nam, JJiwoo; Chen, Pisin; Chen, Yaocheng; Choi, Taejin; Ham, Young-bae; Hsu, Shih-Ying; Huang, Jian-Jung; Huang, Ming-Huey A.; Jee, Geonhwa; Jung, Jongil; Kim, Jieun; Kuo, Chung-Yun; Kwon, Hyuck-Jin; Lee, Changsup; Leung, Chung-Hei; Liu, Tsung-Che; Shiao, Yu-Shao J.; Shin, Bok-Kyun … & Zhao, Leshan
  
• toise: a framework to describe the performance of high-energy neutrino detectors. Journal of Instrumentation, 17(08), T08009.
  van Santen, J.; Clark, B.A.; Halliday, R.; Hallmann, S. & Nelles, A.
  
• Radiofrequency ice dielectric measurements at Summit Station, Greenland. Journal of Glaciology, 1-12.
  Aguilar, Juan Antonio; Allison, Patrick; Besson, Dave; Bishop, Abby; Botner, Olga; Bouma, Sjoerd; Buitink, Stijn; Cataldo, Maddalena; Clark, Brian A.; Couberly, Kenny; Curtis-Ginsberg, Zach; Dasgupta, Paramita; de Kockere, Simon; de Vries, Krijn D.; Deaconu, Cosmin; DuVernois, Michael A.; Eimer, Anna; Glaser, Christian; Hallgren, Allan ... & Zink, Adrian
  
• Reconstructing the arrival direction of neutrinos in deep in-ice radio detectors. The European Physical Journal C, 83(5).
  Plaisier, Ilse; Bouma, Sjoerd & Nelles, Anna
  
• Triboelectric backgrounds to radio-based polar ultra-high energy neutrino (UHEN) experiments. Astroparticle Physics, 145, 102790.
  Aguilar, J.A.; Anker, A.; Allison, P.; Archambault, S.; Baldi, P.; Barwick, S.W.; Beatty, J.J.; Beise, J.; Besson, D.; Bishop, A.; Bondarev, E.; Botner, O.; Bouma, S.; Buitink, S.; Cataldo, M.; Chen, C.C.; Chen, C.H.; Chen, P.; Chen, Y.C. ... & Zink, A.