Neutrino Array Radio Calibration

这项提议寻求资金，将以前的无线电冰切伦科夫实验(莱斯)任务的重点改为中微子阵列射频校准平台，该平台将作为未来开发最终大规模中微子无线电探测阵列的试验台。赖斯历来是使用冰内无线电发射机进行校准的；然而，这些发射机还有一个缺点，那就是信号几何结构与地球大气中超高能宇宙射线产生的中微子诱导的空气簇射截然不同。这些大范围的空气簇射(EAS)目前既可以通过南极表面的粒子通量和冰立方中微子观测站的冰顶探测器观测到，也可以通过穿透到冰立方下方2公里处的介子通量观测到。这样的空气骤雨还会产生两个无线电波信号吗？一个是由于EAS带电粒子通量经历地磁分离而在空气中的长波，另一个是在冰中，当该粒子通量撞击表面时产生的，导致切伦科夫信号与冰中中微子的预期相同。建议利用IceCube和IceTop探测器组合提供的现有空气簇射探测能力，将以前的莱斯触发方案重新定向到“空气中”和“冰中”EAS。与下一代冰内数字无线电模块硬件的重合检测将允许从冰面上方数百米到冰面以下数百米的空气簇射信号的完整跟踪。这将建立一个恒定的校准波束，在此基础上可以进一步开发未来的冰内无线电探测设备，并且必须对拟议的地面中微子探测阵列进行量化，没有上下分辨，从而使它们容易受到来自空气骤雨的虚假信号的影响。对学生的持续依赖为这项拟议的研究提供了更广泛的影响，并使这一努力在其教育使命中站稳了脚跟。

This proposal seeks funding to refocus the former Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) mission into a Neutrino Array Radiofrequency Calibration platform, which will serve as a testbed for future development of an eventual large-scale neutrino radio-detection array. RICE has historically been calibrated using in-ice radio transmitters; however, these transmitters suffer additional drawbacks of having signal geometry distinctly different from the neutrino-induced air showers produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere. These extensive air showers (EAS) currently observable both via their particle flux at the South Pole surface with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory IceTop detectors, and also the flux of penetrating muons reaching IceCube 2-km below. Such air showers will also produce two radio wave signals ? one at long-wavelengths in-air due to the EAS charged particle flux undergoing geomagnetic separation, and the other in-ice produced when that particle flux impacts the surface, resulting in a Cherenkov signal identical to that expected for in-ice neutrinos. It is proposed to redirect the former RICE trigger scheme for both 'in-air' and 'in-ice' EAS, taking advantage of the existing air-shower detection capabilities offered by the combination of the IceCube and IceTop detectors. Coincident detection with the next-generation in-ice digital radio module hardware will allow complete tracking of air shower signals from several hundred meters above the ice surface to hundreds of meters below. This would establish the constant calibration beam upon which future in-ice radio detection devices can be further developed, and which must be quantified for proposed surface neutrino-detection arrays with no up-down discrimination, leaving them susceptible to fake signals from air showers. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact to this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission.