A first search for cosmogenic neutrinos with the ARIANNA Hexagonal Radio Array
Abstract
The ARIANNA experiment seeks to observe the diffuse flux of neutrinos in the 108-1010 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-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 + ν bar flux in a sliding decade-wide energy bin. The limit reaches a minimum of 1.9 ×10-23GeV-1cm-2s-1sr-1 in the 108.5-109.5 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.
- Publication:
-
Astroparticle Physics
- Pub Date:
- October 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2015.04.002
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1410.7352
- Bibcode:
- 2015APh....70...12B
- Keywords:
-
- Radio;
- Antarctica;
- Neutrino;
- Cosmogenic;
- GZK;
- High energy;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 22 pages, 22 figures. Published in Astroparticle Physics