RICE - Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment

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The approval of ice-hole drilling for the IceCube project (to begin in 2004-2005) presents a singe (and not-to-be-repeated) scientific opportunity. The greatest intellectual merit of constructing a neutrino detector lies in the mysteries yet-to-be-discovered with a new technology operating in a new energy regime. RICE (Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment) has primary goals similar to the larger AMANDA experiment - both seek to measure high-energy neutrinos by detection of Cherenkov radiation produced their interaction with the matter. Whereas AMANDA is optimized for detection of penetrating TeV muons, RICE is designed to detect compact electromagnetic cascades initiated by higher energy (PeV-scale) electrons, which produce broadband Cherenkov radiation. Fortuitously, the field attenuation length at such radio wavelengths exceeds 1 km. For 1 PeV, radio detection of cascades becomes more efficient than optical-based techniques; at such high energies, the sum of backgrounds from all other sources are expected to be smaller than signals by 10-100. This proposal is to co-deploy RICE radio receivers in the IceCube holes, thereby scaling up the sensitivity to neutrinos by at least two orders of magnitude, at minimal cost. Encouraged by support from the IceCube collaboration, the project will instrument the radio array for coincident (RICE + IceCube) electromagnetic cascade detection. Fast hardware (to be installed in 2003-2004) will allow microsecond time-scale elimination of the surface anthropogenic background, which has dominated triggers in the past. RICE data from the last four years have allowed the most detailed study of in situ radio detection systematics thus far, as presented in two recent publications on the electrodynamics of the expected radio frequency pulse, and two publications on RICE simulation and calibration and limits on the neutrino flux. By deploying three radio receivers per hole, it will also be possible to conduct world-class, in situ radio-glaciology measurements, in addition to astrophysics. The results on the first in situ measurements of the polar ice dielectric constant are currently being prepared for journal submission. Maximizing economy has required that much of the workload falls on students. Currently, half of the current RICE authors are undergrads; three RICE undergrads have been recipients of prestigious Goldwater Scholarships, five RICE undergrads have traveled to the South Pole since the first deployments in 1999-2000. In recognition of the broader impact of the RICE experiment on the "non-professional" community, prestigious teaching and lecturing opportunities have been extended to RICE faculty, offering more opportunities for recruiting and publicity.