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1. New approaches for gamma-hadron separation at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328004004  

   Bontempo, Federico ( January 2023 , EPJ Web of Conferences)

   Capone, A. ; De Vincenzi, M. ; Morselli, A. (Ed.)

   The IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the geographic South Pole is composed of two detectors. One is the in-ice optical array, which measures high-energy muons from air showers and charged particles produced by the interaction of high-energy neutrinos in the ice. The other is an array of ice-Cherenkov tanks at the surface, called IceTop, which is used both as veto for the in-ice neutrino measurements and for detecting cosmic-ray air showers. In the next decade, the IceCube-Gen2 extension will increase the surface coverage including surface radio antennas and scintillator panels on the footprint of an extended optical array in the ice. The combination of the current surface and in-ice detectors can be exploited for the study of cosmic rays and the search for PeV gamma rays. The in-ice detector measures the high-energy muonic component of air showers, whereas the signal in IceTop is dominated by the electromagnetic component. The relative size of the muonic and electromagnetic components is different for gamma-and hadron-induced air showers. Thus, the gamma-hadron separation of cosmic rays is attempted using machine learning techniques including deep learning. Here, different approaches are presented. Finally, the prospects for the detection of PeV photons with IceCube-Gen2 will be discussed. 

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2. Measurements of Cosmic Ray Mass Composition with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328302007  

   Plum, Matthias ( January 2023 , EPJ Web of Conferences)

   De Mitri, I. ; Barbato, F.C.T. ; Boncioli, D. ; Evoli, C. ; Pagliaroli, G. ; Salamida, F. (Ed.)

   The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a multi-component detector at the South Pole. Besides studying high-energy neutrinos, it is capable of measuring high-energy cosmic rays from PeV to EeV. This energy region is thought to cover the transition from galactic to extragalactic sources of cosmic rays. The observatory consists of the deep in-ice IceCube array, which measures the high-energy (≥500 GeV) muonic component, and the IceTop surface array, which is sensitive to the electromagnetic and low-energy muonic part of an air shower. The primary energy and the mass composition can be measured simultaneously by applying statistical methods including modern machine-learning techniques to reconstruct cosmic ray air showers. In this contribution, we will discuss recent improvements to the reconstruction techniques, the mass composition sensitivity, and an outlook on future improved measurements with the full surface scintillator/radio array to mitigate snow accumulation and measure the air shower maximum X max using imaging air-Cherenkov telescopes IceAct. 

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3. Study of mass composition of cosmic rays with IceTop and IceCube

   https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.0323  

   Abbasi, Rasha ; Ackermann, Markus ; Adams, Jenni ; Aguilar, Juanan ; Ahlers, M. ; Ahrens, Maryon ; Alispach, Cyril Martin ; Alves Junior, Antonio Augusto ; Amin, Najia Moureen ; An, Rui ; et al ( July 2021 , Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a multi-component detector at the South Pole which detects high-energy particles emerging from astrophysical events. These particles provide us with insights into the fundamental properties and behaviour of their sources. Besides its principal usage and merits in neutrino astronomy, using IceCube in conjunction with its surface array, IceTop, also makes it a unique three-dimensional cosmic-ray detector. This distinctive feature helps facilitate detailed cosmic-ray analysis in the transition region from galactic to extragalactic sources. We will present the progress made on multiple fronts to establish a framework for mass-estimation of primary cosmic rays. The first technique relies on a likelihood-based analysis of the surface signal distribution and improves upon the standard reconstruction technique. The second uses advanced methods in graph neural networks to use the full in-ice shower footprint, in addition to global shower-footprint features from IceTop. A comparison between the two methods for composition analysis as well as a possible extension of the analysis techniques for sub-PeV cosmic-ray air-showers will also be discussed. 

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4. Physics Potential of a Radio Surface Array at the South Pole

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921601007  

   Schröder, Frank G. ; Riccobene, G. ; Biagi, S. ; Capone, A. ; Distefano, C. ; Piattelli, P. ( January 2019 , EPJ Web of Conferences)

   A surface array of radio antennas will enhance the performance of the IceTop array and enable new, complementary science goals. First, the accuracy for cosmic-ray air showers will be increased since the radio array provides a calorimetric measurement of the electromagnetic component and is sensitive to the position of the shower maximum. This enhanced accuracy can be used to better measure the mass composition, to search for possible mass-dependent anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic rays, and for more thorough tests of hadronic interaction models. Second, the sensitivity of the radio array to inclined showers will increase the sky coverage for cosmic-ray measurements. Third, the radio array can be used to search for PeV photons from the Galactic Center. Since IceTop is planned to be enhanced by a scintillator array in the near future, a radio extension sharing the same infrastructure can be installed with minimal additional effort and excellent scientific prospects. The combination of ice-Cherenkov, scintillation, and radio detectors at IceCube will provide unprecedented accuracy for the study of highenergy Galactic cosmic rays. 

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5. Sensitivity studies for the IceCube-Gen2 radio array

   https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.1183  

   Abbasi, Rasha ; Ackermann, Markus ; Adams, Jenni ; Aguilar, Juanan ; Ahlers, M. ; Ahrens, Maryon ; Alispach, Cyril Martin ; Allison, Patrick ; Alves Junior, Antonio Augusto ; Amin, Najia Moureen ; et al ( March 2022 , 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2021))

   The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has measured the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux up to ~PeV energies and is starting to identify first point source candidates. The next generation facility, IceCube-Gen2, aims at extending the accessible energy range to EeV in order to measure the continuation of the astrophysical spectrum, to identify neutrino sources, and to search for a cosmogenic neutrino flux. As part of IceCube-Gen2, a radio array is foreseen that is sensitive to detect Askaryan emission of neutrinos beyond ~30 PeV. Surface and deep antenna stations have different benefits in terms of effective area, resolution, and the capability to reject backgrounds from cosmic-ray air showers and may be combined to reach the best sensitivity. The optimal detector configuration is still to be identified. This contribution presents the full-array simulation efforts for a combination of deep and surface antennas, and compares different design options with respect to their sensitivity to fulfill the science goals of IceCube-Gen2. 

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