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1. Modeling and Validating RF-Only Interferometric Triggering with Cosmic Rays for BEACON

   https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.1072  

   Zeolla, Andrew ; Wissel, S. A. ; Alvarez-Muñiz, J. ; Carvalho Jr., W. ; Cummings, A. C. ; Curtis-Ginsberg, Z. ; Deaconu, C. ; Hughes, K. ; Ludwig, A. ; Mulrey, K. ; et al ( March 2022 , 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2021))

   When Earth-skimming tau neutrinos interact within the Earth, they generate upgoing tau leptons that can decay in the atmosphere, forming extensive air showers. The Beamforming Elevated Array for COsmic Neutrinos (BEACON) is a novel detector concept that utilizes a radio interferometer atop a mountain to search for the radio emission due to these extensive air showers. The prototype, located at the White Mountain Research Station in California, consists of 4 crossed-dipole antennas operating in the 30-80 MHz range and uses a directional interferometric trigger for reduced thresholds and background rejection. The prototype will first be used to detect down-going cosmic rays to validate the detector model. A Monte-Carlo simulation was developed to predict the acceptance of the prototype to cosmic rays, as well as the expected rate of detection. In this simulation, cosmic ray induced air showers with random properties are generated in an area around the prototype array. It is then determined if a given shower triggers the array using radio emission simulations from ZHAireS and antenna modelling from XFdtd. Here, we present the methodology and results of this simulation. 

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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. Overview of radio experiments for UHE cosmic particles detection

   Chiche, Simon ; Decoene, Valentin ( January 2022 , 2022 Very High Energy Phenomena in the Universe)

   Radio-detection is a mature technique that has gained large momentum over the past decades. Its physical detection principle is mainly driven by the electromagnetic part of the shower, and is therefore not too sensitive to uncertainties on hadronic interactions. Furthermore its technical detection principle allows for a 100% duty cycle, and large surface coverage thanks to the low cost of antennas. Various detection methods of UHE particles now rely on the radio signal as main observable. For instance, ground based experiments such as AERA on the Pierre Auger Observatory or LOFAR detect the radio emission from air-showers induced by high-energy particles in the atmosphere; in-ice experiment such as ARA, IceCube, or ARIANNA benefits from a detection in denser media which reduces the interaction lengths; finally, balloon experiments such as ANITA allow for very sensitive UHE neutrino detection with only a few antennas. Radio-detection is now focused on building increasingly large-scale radio experiments to enhance the detector sensitivity and address the low fluxes at UHE. In this proceeding we give an overview of the past, current and future experiments for the detection of UHE cosmic particles using the radio technique in air (AERA, Auger-Prime, GRAND), in balloon (ANITA, PUEO) or in other media (IceCube-Gen2, BEACON, RNO-G) 

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4. Reconstructing the neutrino energy for in-ice radio detectors: A study for the Radio Neutrino Observatory Greenland (RNO-G)

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10034-4  

   Aguilar, J. A. ; Allison, P. ; Beatty, J. J. ; Bernhoff, H. ; Besson, D. ; Bingefors, N. ; Botner, O. ; Bouma, S. ; Buitink, S. ; Carter, K. ; et al ( February 2022 , The European Physical Journal C)

   Since summer 2021, the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is searching for astrophysical neutrinos at energies$${>10}$$$>10$ PeV by detecting the radio emission from particle showers in the ice around Summit Station, Greenland. We present an extensive simulation study that shows how RNO-G will be able to measure the energy of such particle cascades, which will in turn be used to estimate the energy of the incoming neutrino that caused them. The location of the neutrino interaction is determined using the differences in arrival times between channels and the electric field of the radio signal is reconstructed using a novel approach based on Information Field Theory. Based on these properties, the shower energy can be estimated. We show that this method can achieve an uncertainty of 13% on the logarithm of the shower energy after modest quality cuts and estimate how this can constrain the energy of the neutrino. The method presented in this paper is applicable to all similar radio neutrino detectors, such as the proposed radio array of IceCube-Gen2.

    

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5. 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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