LUNASKA experiments using the Australia Telescope Compact Array to search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos and develop technology for the lunar Cherenkov technique

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.81.042003· OSTI ID:21409247

James, C W; Protheroe, R J ^[1]; Ekers, R D; Phillips, C J; Roberts, P ^[2]; Alvarez-Muniz, J ^[3]; Bray, J D ^[1]; McFadden, R A ^[4]

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1. School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide (Australia)
2. Australia Telescope National Facility, Epping (Australia)
3. Department Fisica de Particulas and IGFAE, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
4. School of Physics, Univ. of Melbourne (Australia)

We describe the design, performance, sensitivity and results of our recent experiments using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) for lunar Cherenkov observations with a very wide (600 MHz) bandwidth and nanosecond timing, including a limit on an isotropic neutrino flux. We also make a first estimate of the effects of small-scale surface roughness on the effective experimental aperture, finding that contrary to expectations, such roughness will act to increase the detectability of near-surface events over the neutrino energy-range at which our experiment is most sensitive (though distortions to the time-domain pulse profile may make identification more difficult). The aim of our 'Lunar UHE Neutrino Astrophysics using the Square Kilometre Array' (LUNASKA) project is to develop the lunar Cherenkov technique of using terrestrial radio telescope arrays for ultrahigh energy (UHE) cosmic ray (CR) and neutrino detection, and, in particular, to prepare for using the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its path-finders such as the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) for lunar Cherenkov experiments.

• OSTI ID: 21409247
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.042003; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
APERTURES
ASTROPHYSICS
AUSTRALIA
CHERENKOV COUNTERS
COSMIC RADIATION
ENERGY RANGE
MHZ RANGE
NEUTRINO DETECTION
NEUTRINOS
RADIO TELESCOPES
SENSITIVITY
SURFACES
ANTENNAS
AUSTRALASIA
DETECTION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUIPMENT
FERMIONS
FREQUENCY RANGE
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OPENINGS
PHYSICS
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
RADIO EQUIPMENT
TELESCOPES