Sensitivity of the IceCube-Gen2 Surface Array for Cosmic-Ray Anisotropy Studies

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the enhanced sensitivity of the IceCube-Gen2 surface array for detecting cosmic-ray anisotropy, leveraging larger area and improved statistics to address the cosmic-ray origin transition.

Contribution

It presents simulation studies and sensitivity estimates for the IceCube-Gen2 surface array's ability to study cosmic-ray anisotropy with higher precision.

Findings

Increased array size improves anisotropy detection sensitivity.

Simulation results show enhanced capability over IceTop.

Potential to better understand cosmic-ray origin transition.

Abstract

The energy of the transition from Galactic to extra-galactic origin of cosmic rays is one of the major unresolved issues of cosmic-ray physics. However, strong constraints can be obtained from studying the anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays. The sensitivity to cosmic-ray anisotropy is, in particular, a matter of statistics. Recently, the cosmic ray anisotropy measurements in the TeV to PeV energy range were updated from IceCube using 11 years of data. The IceCube-Gen2 surface array will cover an area about 8 times larger than the existing IceTop surface array with a corresponding increase in statistics and capability to investigate cosmic-ray anisotropy with higher sensitivity. In this contribution, we present details on the performed simulation studies and sensitivity to the cosmic-ray anisotropy signal for the IceCube-Gen2 surface array.