Precision Operation of Hexagonal Radio Array

超高能中微子是独特的天体物理信使，因为它们与介入物质的相互作用很弱，因此可以用来探测遥远的宇宙。在穿越宇宙的高能“宇宙射线”带电粒子和宇宙微波背景光子之间的相互作用中，预计会产生一种微小但可观测到的超高能中微子通量。对这些宇宙中微子的观测探测了宇宙的结构和演化，并在超出标准模型的能量下测试物理。利用大量的无线电透明冰，已经在南极洲实施了几项探测这些高能中微子的开创性努力。超高能中微子穿过稠密的南极冰层，会产生粒子级联，发射出可观测的无线电波。该合同将支持位于南极洲罗斯冰架表面的六边形无线电阵列（HRA）的运行和持续发展。HRA被设计用来探测由冰中中微子相互作用产生的短时间无线电脉冲，这些脉冲从罗斯冰架底部的冰水表面反射到表面上的接收站。该奖项为改进探测器特性和继续观测提供了资金。该组织将利用各种推广活动，包括twitter和个人博客，让公众参与到科学中来。HRA由7个自主站组成，旨在展示技术，评估数据质量，并评估背景，这是一个更大项目——南极罗斯冰架天线中微子阵列（ARIANNA）的第一阶段。利用来自HRA台站的数据，该小组将进一步表征非热贡献的来源和性质，并提高探测器模拟和事件重建程序的准确性。

Ultra-high-energy neutrinos are unique astrophysical messengers as they interact only weakly with intervening matter and can therefore be used to probe the distant universe. A small but observable flux of these ultra-high-energy neutrinos are expected to be produced in interactions between high-energy "cosmic ray" charged particles traveling through the Universe and Cosmic Microwave Background photons. Observations of these cosmogenic neutrinos probe the structure and evolution of the Universe and test physics at energies beyond the standard models. Utilizing the large volume of radio transparent ice, several pioneering efforts to detect these high energy neutrinos have been implemented in Antarctica. Ultra-high-energy neutrinos traveling through the dense Antarctic ice generate cascades of particles that emit observable radio waves. This award will support operations and continued development of the Hexagonal Radio Array (HRA), located on the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. HRA is designed to detect short-duration radio pulses generated by neutrino interactions in the ice, which reflect from the ice-water surface at the bottom of the Ross Ice Shelf up to the stations on the surface. This award provides funding to improve the detector characterization and continue observations. The group will utilize a variety of outreach activities, including twitter feeds and personal blogs, to engage the public in the science.Consisting of seven autonomous stations, HRA is intended to demonstrate the technology, assess data quality, and evaluate backgrounds as the first phase of a larger project, the Antarctic Ross Ice-shelf ANtenna Neutrino Array (ARIANNA.) With data from the HRA stations, the group will further characterize the sources and properties of non-thermal contributions, and improve the accuracy of detector simulation and event reconstruction programs.