No Arabic abstract
The production of acoustic signals from the interactions of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic ray neutrinos in water and ice has been studied. A new computationally fast and efficient method of deriving the signal is presented. This method allows the implementation of up to date parameterisations of acoustic attenuation in sea water and ice that now includes the effects of complex attenuation, where appropriate. The methods presented here have been used to compute and study the properties of the acoustic signals which would be expected from such interactions. A matrix method of parameterising the signals, which includes the expected fluctuations, is also presented. These methods are used to generate the expected signals that would be detected in acoustic UHE neutrino telescopes.
The CORSIKA program, usually used to simulate extensive cosmic ray air showers, has been adapted to work in a water or ice medium. The adapted CORSIKA code was used to simulate hadronic showers produced by neutrino interactions. The simulated showers have been used to study the spatial distribution of the deposited energy in the showers. This allows a more precise determination of the acoustic signals produced by ultra high energy neutrinos than has been possible previously. The properties of the acoustic signals generated by such showers are described.
Ultra high energy neutrinos may be observed in ice by the emission of acoustic signals. The SPATS detector has investigated the possibility of observing GZK-neutrinos in the clear ice near the South Pole at the IceCube detector site. To explore other potential detection sites glacial ice in the Alps and in Antarctica has been surveyed for its acoustical properties. The purpose of the Enceladus Explorer (EnEx), on the other hand, is the search for extraterrestrial life on the Saturn moon Enceladus. Here acoustics is used to maneuver a subsurface probe inside the ice by trilateration of signals. A system of acoustic transducers has been developed to study both applications. In the south polar region of the moon Enceladus there are secluded crevasses. These are filled with liquid water, probably heated by tidal forces due to the short distance to Saturn. We intend to take a sample of water from these crevasses by using a combination of a melt down and steering probe called IceMole (IM). Maneuvering IM requires a good understanding of ice properties such as the speed of sound, the attenuation of acoustic signals in ice, their directional dependencies and their dependence on different frequencies. The technology developed for this positioning system could also contribute to the design of future large scale acoustic neutrino detectors. We present our analysis methods and the findings on attenuation, sound speed, and frequency response obtained at several sites in the Alps and Antarctica.
UHE neutrinos with $E>10^{17}$ eV can be produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) interacting with CMB photons (cosmogenic neutrinos) and by top-down sources, such as topological defects (TD), superheavy dark matter (SHDM) and mirror matter. Cosmogenic neutrinos are reliably predicted and their fluxes can be numerically evaluated using the observed flux of UHECR. The lower limit for the flux is obtained for the case of pure proton composition of the observed UHECR. The rigorous upper limit for cosmogenic neutrino flux also exists. The maximum neutrino energy is determined by maximum energy of acceleration, which at least for the shock acceleration is expected not to exceed $10^{21} - 10^{22}$ eV. The top-down sources provide neutrino energies a few orders of magnitude higher, and this can be considered as a signature of these models. Oscillations play important role in UHE neutrino astronomy. At production of cosmogenic neutrinos $tau$-neutrinos are absent and $bar{ u}_e$ neutrinos are suppressed. These species, important for detection, appear in the observed fluxes due to oscillation. Mirror neutrinos cannot be observed directly, but due to oscillations to ordinary neutrinos they can provide the largest neutrino flux at the highest energies.
The triboelectric effect broadly includes any process in which force applied at a boundary layer results in displacement of surface charge, leading to the generation of an electrostatic potential. Wind blowing over granular surfaces, such as snow, can induce a potential difference, with subsequent coronal discharge. Nanosecond timescale discharges can lead to radio-frequency emissions with characteristics similar to piezoelectric-induced discharges. For Antarctic-sited experiments seeking detection of radio-frequency signals generated by collisions of cosmic rays or neutrinos with atmospheric or englacial molecular targets, triboelectric emissions from the surface pose a potential background. This is particularly true for experiments in which radio antennas are buried ~(1--100) m below the snow surface, and seeking to validate neutrino detection strategies by measurement of down-coming radio-frequency emissions from extensive air showers. Herein, after summarizing extant evidence for wind-induced triboelectric effects previously reported elsewhere, we detail additional analysis using archival data collected with the RICE and AURA experiments at the South Pole. We broadly characterize those radio-frequency emissions based on source location, and time-domain and also frequency-domain characteristics. We find that: a) For wind velocities in excess of 10-12 m/s, triboelectric background triggers can dominate data-taking, b) frequency spectra for triboelectric events are generally shifted to the low-end of the regime to which current radio experiments are typically sensitive (100-200 MHz), c) there is an apparent preference for tribo-electric discharges from metal surface structures, consistent with a model in which localized, above-surface structures provide a repository for transported charge.
Lunar Cherenkov experiments aim to detect nanosecond pulses of Cherenkov emission produced during UHE cosmic ray or neutrino interactions in the lunar regolith. Pulses from these interactions are dispersed, and therefore reduced in amplitude, during propagation through the Earths ionosphere. Pulse dispersion must therefore be corrected to maximise the received signal to noise ratio and subsequent chances of detection. The pulse dispersion characteristic may also provide a powerful signature to determine the lunar origin of a pulse and discriminate against pulses of terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI). This characteristic is parameterised by the instantaneous Total Electron Content (TEC) of the ionosphere and therefore an accurate knowledge of the ionospheric TEC provides an experimental advantage for the detection and identification of lunar Cherenkov pulses. We present a new method to calibrate the dispersive effect of the ionosphere on lunar Cherenkov pulses using lunar Faraday rotation measurements combined with geomagnetic field models.