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Observation of classically `forbidden' electromagnetic wave propagation and implications for neutrino detection.

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [1];  [12];  [1];  [3]
  1. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States); National Research Nuclear Univ., Moscow (Russia)
  3. Uppsala Univ. (Sweden)
  4. Whittier College, Whittier, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of Mainz, Mainz (Germany)
  7. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)
  8. Friedrich-Alexander Univ. at Erlangen-Nurnberg, Erlangen (Germany)
  9. Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States)
  10. National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
  11. Humboldt Univ. of Berlin (Germany); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  12. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Ongoing experimental efforts in Antarctica seek to detect ultra-high energy neutrinos by measurement of radio-frequency (RF) Askaryan radiation generated by the collision of a neutrino with an ice molecule. An array of RF antennas, deployed either in-ice or in-air, is used to infer the properties of the neutrino. To evaluate their experimental sensitivity, such experiments require a refractive index model for ray tracing radio-wave trajectories from a putative in-ice neutrino interaction point to the receiving antennas; this gives the degree of signal absorption or ray bending from source to receiver. The gradient in the density profile over the upper 200 meters of Antarctic ice, coupled with Fermat's least-time principle, implies ray "bending" and the existence of "forbidden" zones for predominantly horizontal signal propagation at shallow depths. After re-deriving the formulas describing such shadowing, we report on experimental results that, somewhat unexpectedly, demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic wave transport modes from nominally shadowed regions. Finally, the fact that this shadow-signal propagation is observed both at South Pole and the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica suggests that the effect may be a generic property of polar ice, with potentially important implications for experiments seeking to detect neutrinos.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1532333
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 22899316
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 07 Vol. 2018; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (5)

Broadband RF Phased Array Design with MEEP: Comparisons to Array Theory in Two and Three Dimensions text January 2021
Neutrino vertex reconstruction with in-ice radio detectors using surface reflections and implications for the neutrino energy resolution journal November 2019
NuRadioMC: simulating the radio emission of neutrinos from interaction to detector journal January 2020
Neutrino vertex reconstruction with in-ice radio detectors using surface reflections and implications for the neutrino energy resolution text January 2019
NuRadioMC: Simulating the radio emission of neutrinos from interaction to detector text January 2020

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS