Performance of two Askaryan Radio Array stations and first results in the search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos
2016
Ultrahigh energy neutrinos are interesting messenger particles since, if detected, they can transmit
exclusive information about ultrahigh energy processes in the Universe. These particles, with energies
above 1016 eV, interact very rarely. Therefore, detectors that instrument several gigatons of matter are
needed to discover them. The ARA detector is currently being constructed at the South Pole. It is designed
to use the Askaryan effect, the emission of radio waves from neutrino-induced cascades in the South Pole
ice, to detect neutrino interactions at very high energies. With antennas distributed among 37 widely
separated stations in the ice, such interactions can be observed in a volume of several hundred cubic
kilometers. Currently three deep ARA stations are deployed in the ice, of which two have been taking data
since the beginning of 2013. In this article, the ARA detector “as built” and calibrations are described. Data
reduction methods used to distinguish the rare radio signals from overwhelming backgrounds of thermal
and anthropogenic origin are presented. Using data from only two stations over a short exposure time of
10 months, a neutrino flux limit of 1.5 × 10−6 GeV=cm2=s=sr is calculated for a particle energy of
1018 eV, which offers promise for the full ARA detector.
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