A Technique for Detection of PeV Neutrinos Using a Phased Radio Array

TL;DR

This paper proposes a phased radio array technique to detect PeV neutrinos, aiming to extend the energy range of current radio detection methods and improve the chances of discovering cosmogenic neutrinos.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel phased radio array design that lowers the energy detection threshold to PeV energies, enhancing neutrino detection capabilities.

Findings

Design for a phased radio array to detect PeV neutrinos.

Potential for energy calibration with optical Cherenkov telescopes.

Improved coverage for discovering cosmogenic neutrinos.

Abstract

The detection of high energy neutrinos ($10^{15}-10^{20}$ eV or $1-10^{5}$ PeV) is an important step toward understanding the most energetic cosmic accelerators and would enable tests of fundamental physics at energy scales that cannot easily be achieved on Earth. In this energy range, there are two expected populations of neutrinos: the astrophysical flux observed with IceCube at lower energies ($\sim1$ PeV) and the predicted cosmogenic flux at higher energies ($\sim10^{18}$ eV). Radio detector arrays such as RICE, ANITA, ARA, and ARIANNA exploit the Askaryan effect and the radio transparency of glacial ice, which together enable enormous volumes of ice to be monitored with sparse instrumentation. We describe here the design for a phased radio array that would lower the energy threshold of radio techniques to the PeV scale, allowing measurement of the astrophysical flux observed with IceCube over an extended energy range. Meaningful energy overlap with optical Cherenkov telescopes could be used for energy calibration. The phased radio array design would also provide more efficient coverage of the large effective volume required to discover cosmogenic neutrinos.