Improved modeling of in-ice particle showers for IceCube event reconstruction
Abstract
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory relies on an array of photomultiplier tubes to detect Cherenkov light produced by charged particles in the South Pole ice. IceCube data analyses depend on an in-depth characterization of the glacial ice, and on novel approaches in event reconstruction that utilize fast approximations of photoelectron yields. Here, a more accurate model is derived for event reconstruction that better captures our current knowledge of ice optical properties. When evaluated on a Monte Carlo simulation set, the median angular resolution for in-ice particle showers improves by over a factor of three compared to a reconstruction based on a simplified model of the ice. The most substantial improvement is obtained when including effects of birefringence due to the polycrystalline structure of the ice. When evaluated on data classified as particle showers in the high-energy starting events sample, a significantly improved description of the events is observed.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Instrumentation
- Pub Date:
- June 2024
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1748-0221/19/06/P06026
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2403.02470
- Bibcode:
- 2024JInst..19P6026A
- Keywords:
-
- Cherenkov detectors;
- Neutrino detectors;
- Simulation methods and programs;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;
- Physics - Data Analysis;
- Statistics and Probability
- E-Print:
- 28 pages, 18 figures, 1 table, submitted to JINST, updated to account for comments received