Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Askaryan Radio Array: The World's Forefront Neutrino Astrophysics Program from 100 PeV

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This award will push the frontier of ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrino astrophysics above 100 peta-electron-volts (PeV) with the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) testbed at the South Pole Station, whose dataset is now large enough to enable either a discovery of the highest energy neutrinos ever detected or setting the world’s best constraints in this crucial energy regime. The study will continue operation of this testbed experiment, doubling the size of the dataset in the next three years, streamline neutrino searches in the growing ARA dataset, calibrate simulations of neutrino detectors using newly-detected cosmic ray air showers, and test next-generation data acquisition electronics in the South Pole environment. ARA serves as a platform for recruitment of young scientists into STEM fields, and the development of junior scientists to work on the next generation of UHE neutrino detectors. This group engages secondary-school, undergraduate and graduate students in innovative neutrino research, and will develop a new module for the Masterclass for high school students on big data strategies to search for rare events in large datasets, using data from ARA and from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The radio technique used by ARA allows astrophysics to extend to these UHE neutrinos. ARA is laying the groundwork for the radio component of the next generation of neutrino observatories. A neutrino observation from ARA will constrain the properties of any global population of sources of the highest energy cosmic rays, complementing cosmic ray experiments that sample only local sources at the highest energies. Any event detected would be the highest energy neutrino ever observed, cosmic or terrestrial, and be the first-ever detection of a neutrino via radio frequency emission. This would be a major event in the pursuit of UHE neutrinos, and would provide crucial information for the technical design of future facilities. This project advances the goals of the NSF Windows on the Universe Big Idea. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.