Three-year performance of the IceAct telescopes at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

TL;DR

The IceAct telescopes at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have operated successfully for three years, demonstrating promising capabilities in cosmic-ray studies by measuring atmospheric Cherenkov light, with potential improvements in particle discrimination.

Contribution

This paper presents the three-year operational performance of IceAct telescopes, highlighting their role in enhancing cosmic-ray composition analysis at the IceCube site.

Findings

Successful three-year operation at South Pole

Improved cosmic-ray composition discrimination potential

Validation of Cherenkov light measurements in harsh conditions

Abstract

IceAct is an array of compact Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes at the ice surface as part of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The telescopes, featuring a camera of 61 silicon photomultipliers and fresnel-lens-based optics, are optimized to be operated in harsh environmental conditions, such as at the South Pole. Since 2019, the first two telescopes have been operating in a stereoscopic configuration in the center of IceCube's surface detector IceTop. With an energy threshold of about 10 TeV and a wide field-of-view, the IceAct telescopes show promising capabilities of improving current cosmic-ray composition studies: measuring the Cherenkov light emissions in the atmosphere adds new information about the shower development not accessible with the current detectors. First simulations indicate that the added information of a single telescope leads, e.g., to an improved discrimination between flux contributions from different primary particle species in the sensitive energy range. We review the performance and detector operations of the telescopes during the past 3 years (2020-2022) and give an outlook on the future of IceAct.