Overview of Cherenkov Telescope on-board EUSO-SPB2 for the Detection of Very-High-Energy Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and testing of a Cherenkov telescope on the EUSO-SPB2 balloon mission aimed at detecting Very-High-Energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, serving as a precursor for future space-based observatories.

Contribution

It presents the design, integration, and simulation studies of a Cherenkov telescope for balloon-based neutrino detection, advancing the technology for future space missions.

Findings

Successful integration of a 512-pixel SiPM camera

Simulation results of camera response to air showers

Status update on telescope development and testing

Abstract

We present the status of the development of a Cherenkov telescope to be flown on a long-duration balloon flight, the Extreme Universe Space Observatory Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2). EUSO-SPB2 is an approved NASA balloon mission that is planned to fly in 2023 and is a precursor of the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA), a candidate for an Astrophysics probe-class mission. The purpose of the Cherenkov telescope on-board EUSOSPB2 is to classify known and unknown sources of backgrounds for future space-based neutrino detectors. Furthermore, we will use the Earth-skimming technique to search for Very-High-Energy (VHE) tau neutrinos below the limb (E > 10 PeV) and observe air showers from cosmic rays above the limb. The 0.785 m^2 Cherenkov telescope is equipped with a 512-pixel SiPM camera covering a 12.8{\deg} x 6.4{\deg} (Horizontal x Vertical) field of view. The camera signals are digitized with a 100 MS/s readout system. In this paper, we discuss the status of the telescope development, the camera integration, and simulation studies of the camera response.