The EUSO-SPB2 Cherenkov Telescope -- Flight Performance and Preliminary Results
Eliza Gazda (for the JEM-EUSO collaboration)

TL;DR
The EUSO-SPB2 Cherenkov Telescope was flown on a balloon mission to test air-shower imaging at high altitudes, aiming to detect ultra-high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, and to evaluate its in-flight performance.
Contribution
This paper presents the design, flight performance, and preliminary results of the EUSO-SPB2 Cherenkov Telescope, a novel instrument for high-altitude air-shower imaging for UHE neutrino and cosmic ray detection.
Findings
Successful in-flight operation of the Cherenkov telescope
Preliminary data on night sky background and air-shower imaging
Validation of the telescope's performance for future UHE neutrino detection
Abstract
Astrophysical Very-High-Energy (VHE, >10PeV) neutrinos deliver crucial information about the sources of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), the composition of UHECRs, and neutrino/particle physics at highest energies. UHE-tau neutrinos skimming the Earth's surface produce tau leptons, which can emerge from the ground, decay, and start an upward-going extensive air shower (EAS) in the Earth's atmosphere. The tau neutrino can be reconstructed by imaging the EAS. We developed an atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope flying on the Extreme Universe Space Observatory Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2) mission to test the air-shower imaging concept at highest altitudes. The EUSO-SPB2 ultra-long-duration balloon mission is a precursor of the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA), a candidate for an astrophysics probe-class mission. The telescope implements Schmidt optics with a…
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