The Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment

Technical Report · Wed Jun 26 04:00:00 EDT 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1973930· OSTI ID:1973930

Allen, C. ^[1]; Bean, A. ^[1]; Besson, D. ^[1]; Box, D. J. ^[1]; Buniy, R. ^[1]; McKay, D. ^[1]; Perry, L. ^[1]; Ralston, J. ^[1]; Razzaque, S. ^[1]; Schmitz, D. W. ^[1]; Snow, J. ^[1]; Christofek, L. ^[1]; Kravchenko, I. ^[2]; Fricter, G. M. ^[3]; Seckel, D. ^[4]; Adams, J. ^[5]; Seunarine, S. ^[5]; Cummins, M. ^[6]; Ramberg, Erik ^[7]

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1. Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States)
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
3. Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
4. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
5. Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand)
6. Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb, IL (United States)
7. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

The Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment (RICE) seeks to measure Cerenkov radiation from ultra-high energy neutrinos with radio antennas buried in the ice at the South Pole. We detect the long-wavelength Cerenkov radiation signal resulting from mostly electron neutrino-induced showers. As the shower develops, atomic electrons in the target medium are swept into the forward-moving shower resulting in a net charge on the shower front. Such cascades produce broadband Cerenkov radiation for wavelengths larger than the transverse dimensions of the shower front that is coherent. The RICE collaboration was undertaken initially based on predictions for measuring these neutrinos. The RICE experiment presently consists of a 16­-channel array of dipole radio receivers scattered within a 200mx200mx200m cube that is situated approximately 100-300m below the experimental station at the South Pole. A course of studies including accelerator testbeam runs has been undertaken by the RICE testbeam group and others to characterize the signals. A full Monte Carlo simulation has been undertaken. Initially the effort has been focused on the signal strength due to the electromagnetic shower evolution. Efforts to test the electromagnetic shower evolution included: initial test beam studies using the final focus area at SLAC, studies using a 15MeV beam at ANL, and a first observation of the Askaryan effect by another effort at SLAC. The last effort used picosecond pulses of GeV bremsstrahlung photons into a 3.5 ton silica sand target. They measured the polarization, coherence, timing, field strength vs. shower depth, and field strength vs. frequency.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: RICE Collaboration
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1973930
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PROPOSAL--0926; oai:inspirehep.net:879934
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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