Design and Performance of the first IceAct Demonstrator at the South Pole

TL;DR

This paper reports on the first results of a compact imaging air-Cherenkov telescope, IceAct, at the South Pole, demonstrating its potential to improve cosmic ray and neutrino detection when used with IceCube.

Contribution

The paper introduces the first IceAct demonstrator, showing its capability to measure air showers in coincidence with IceCube at the South Pole.

Findings

Successful detection of air showers in coincidence with IceCube.

Validation of IceAct technology for South Pole conditions.

Potential for improved cosmic ray and neutrino measurements.

Abstract

In this paper we describe the first results of a compact imaging air-Cherenkov telescope, IceAct, operating in coincidence with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) at the geographic South Pole. An array of IceAct telescopes (referred to as the IceAct project) is under consideration as part of the IceCube-Gen2 extension to IceCube. Surface detectors in general will be a powerful tool in IceCube-Gen2 for distinguishing astrophysical neutrinos from the dominant backgrounds of cosmic-ray induced atmospheric muons and neutrinos: the IceTop array is already in place as part of IceCube, but has a high energy threshold. Although the duty cycle will be lower for the IceAct telescopes than the present IceTop tanks, the IceAct telescopes may prove to be more effective at lowering the detection threshold for air showers. Additionally, small imaging air-Cherenkov telescopes in combination with IceTop, the deep IceCube detector or other future detector systems might improve measurements of the composition of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. In this paper we present measurements of a first 7-pixel imaging air Cherenkov telescope demonstrator, proving the capability of this technology to measure air showers at the South Pole in coincidence with IceTop and the deep IceCube detector.