On radio detection of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos in Antarctic ice

Jul, 1995
45 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 53 (1996) 1684-1698
e-Print:
Report number:
  • KITCS-95-1-3

Citations per year

19952001200720132019024681012
Abstract: (arXiv)
Interactions of ultrahigh energy neutrinos of cosmological origin in large volumes of dense, radio-transparent media can be detected via coherent Cherenkov emission from accompanying electromagnetic showers. Antarctic ice meets the requirements for an efficient detection medium for a radio frequency neutrino telescope. We carefully estimate the sensitivity of realistic antennas embedded deep in the ice to 100 MHz - 1 GHz signals generated by predicted neutrino fluxes from active galactic nuclei. Our main conclusion is that a {\it single radio receiver} can probe a 1\sim 1 km 3{\rm km}~3 volume for events with primary energy near 2 PeV and that the total number of events registered would be roughly 200 to 400 year 1{\rm year}~{-1} in our most conservative estimate. An array of such receivers would increase sensitivity dramatically. A radio neutrino telescope could directly observe and test our understanding of the most powerful particle accelerators in the universe, simultaneously testing the standard theory of particle physics at unprecedented energies.
  • neutrino: counters and detectors
  • neutrino: cosmic radiation
  • neutrino: flux
  • flux: neutrino
  • showers: electromagnetic
  • radiation: Cherenkov
  • solids: water
  • RF system
  • deep underground detector: proposed
  • numerical calculations
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