arXiv subjects

N. van Eijndhoven

Publications and source records attributed to N. van Eijndhoven.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Reconstructing the neutrino energy for in-ice radio detectors

Starting in summer 2021, the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) will search for astrophysical neutrinos at energies >10 PeV by detecting the radio emission from particle showers in the ice around Summit Station, Greenland. We present an extensive simulation study that shows how RNO-G will be able to measure the energy of such particle cascades, which will in turn be used to estimate the energy of the incoming neutrino that caused them. The location of the neutrino interaction is determined using the differences in arrival times between channels and the electric field of the radio signal is reconstructed using a novel approach based on Information Field Theory. Based on these properties, the shower energy can be estimated. We show that this method can achieve an uncertainty of 13% on the logarithm of the shower energy after modest quality cuts and estimate how this can constrain the energy of the neutrino. The method presented in this paper is applicable to all similar radio neutrino detectors, such as the proposed radio array of IceCube-Gen2.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays: Pathfinder Experiment for a Next-Generation Neutrino Observatory

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR) is a recently initiated experiment designed to detect the englacial cascade of a cosmic-ray initiated air shower via in-ice radar, toward the goal of a full-scale, next-generation experiment to detect ultra high energy neutrinos in polar ice. For cosmic rays with a primary energy greater than 10 PeV, roughly 10% of an air-shower's energy reaches the surface of a high elevation ice-sheet ($\gtrsim$2 km) concentrated into a radius of roughly 10 cm. This penetrating shower core creates an in-ice cascade many orders of magnitude more dense than the preceding in-air cascade. This dense cascade can be detected via the radar echo technique, where transmitted radio is reflected from the ionization deposit left in the wake of the cascade. RET-CR will test the radar echo method in nature, with the in-ice cascade of a cosmic-ray initiated air-shower serving as a test beam. We present the projected event rate and sensitivity based upon a three part simulation using CORSIKA, GEANT4, and RadioScatter. RET-CR expects $\sim$1 radar echo event per day.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Modeling in-ice radio propagation with parabolic equation methods

We investigate the use of parabolic equation (PE) methods for solving radio-wave propagation in polar ice. PE methods provide an approximate solution to Maxwell's equations, in contrast to full-field solutions such as finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) methods, yet provide a more complete model of propagation than simple geometric ray-tracing (RT) methods that are the current state of the art for simulating in-ice radio detection of neutrino-induced cascades. PE are more computationally efficient than FDTD methods, and more flexible than RT methods, allowing for the inclusion of diffractive effects, and modeling of propagation in regions that cannot be modeled with geometric methods. We present a new PE approximation suited to the in-ice case. We conclude that current ray-tracing methods may be too simplistic in their treatment of ice properties, and their continued use could overestimate experimental sensitivity for in-ice neutrino detection experiments. We discuss the implications for current in-ice Askaryan-type detectors and for the upcoming Radar Echo Telescope; two families of experiments for which these results are most relevant. We suggest that PE methods be investigated further for in-ice radio applications.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Constraints on the Diffuse Flux of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos from Four Years of Askaryan Radio Array Data in Two Stations

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) is an ultra-high energy (UHE, $>10^{17}$ eV) neutrino detector designed to observe neutrinos by searching for the radio waves emitted by the relativistic products of neutrino-nucleon interactions in Antarctic ice. In this paper, we present constraints on the diffuse flux of ultra-high energy neutrinos between $10^{16}-10^{21}$ eV resulting from a search for neutrinos in two complementary analyses, both analyzing four years of data (2013-2016) from the two deep stations (A2, A3) operating at that time. We place a 90 % CL upper limit on the diffuse all flavor neutrino flux at $10^{18}$ eV of $EF(E)=5.6\times10^{-16}$ $\textrm{cm}^{-2}$$\textrm{s}^{-1}$$\textrm{sr}^{-1}$. This analysis includes four times the exposure of the previous ARA result, and represents approximately 1/5 the exposure expected from operating ARA until the end of 2022.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Observation of Radar Echoes From High-Energy Particle Cascades

We report the observation of radar echoes from the ionization trails of high-energy particle cascades. These data were taken at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where the full electron beam ($\sim$10$^9$ e$^-$ at $\sim$10 GeV/e$^-$) was directed into a plastic target to simulate an ultra high-energy neutrino interaction. This target was interrogated with radio waves, and coherent radio reflections from the cascades were detected, with properties consistent with theoretical expectations. This is the first definitive observation of radar echoes from high-energy particle cascades, which may lead to a viable neutrino detection technology for energies $\gtrsim 10^{16}$ eV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

The Next-Generation Radio Neutrino Observatory -- Multi-Messenger Neutrino Astrophysics at Extreme Energies

RNO is the mid-scale discovery instrument designed to make the first observation of neutrinos from the cosmos at extreme energies, with sensitivity well beyond current instrument capabilities. This new observatory will be the largest ground-based neutrino telescope to date, enabling the measurement of neutrinos above $10^{16}$ eV, determining the nature of the astrophysical neutrino flux that has been measured by IceCube at higher energies, similarly extending the reach of multi-messenger astrophysics to the highest energies, and enabling investigations of fundamental physics at energies unreachable by particle accelerators on Earth.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Hybrid detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos with the next-generation neutrino detectors at the South Pole

In 2013 the IceCube collaboration announced the discovery of a cosmic neutrino flux up to PeV energies, validating neutrino astronomy as the next promising observational technique to explore the high-energy Universe. The neutrino community is moving forward with the construction of new facilities to enhance the detection of these elusive particles at higher energies (up to and beyond EeV) and to increase the statistics at the high-energy end of the IceCube neutrino flux. Future large volume neutrino detectors, using both the radio Askaryan and the optical Cherenkov signal, will open the possibility of hybrid detection of neutrino interactions within the polar ice. In this contribution we present a first calculation of the expected number of events for a simplified geometry of one radio station located at 200 m depth in the vicinity of a ~10 km^3 in-ice Cherenkov detector, similar to the planned IceCube-Gen2 neutrino observatory. Preliminary simulations show that a total event rate of ~1 event/year is achievable for a 10-stations array assuming that the Askaryan radio detectors can lower their energy threshold down to ~PeV energies. Such a possibility is currently under study for the future radio extension foreseen as one of the surface components of IceCube-Gen2.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

Investigation of Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies as Obscured High-Energy Neutrino Source Candidates

Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) are the most luminous objects in the infrared sky. With infrared luminosities exceeding $10^{12}$ solar luminosities, ULIRGs contain strong star formation regions which could power hadronic acceleration. Moreover, a significant fraction of ULIRGs have been found to host Active Galactic Nuclei, which could also be a source of hadronic acceleration. Furthermore, such high infrared luminosities indicate that large amounts of dust are present in these objects. In the presence of hadronic acceleration, this dust not only represents an excellent target for high-energy neutrino production through the pp-channel, but it could also attenuate a significant fraction of the gamma rays that are produced in this process. This could relieve the apparent tension between the diffuse IceCube neutrino flux and the diffuse gamma-ray flux measured by Fermi-LAT. We present our source selection criteria and IceCube sensitivities in view of a search for high-energy neutrinos from these so far unexplored objects.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Search for high-energy neutrinos from dust obscured Blazars

The recent discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos by the IceCube neutrino observatory opens up a new field in physics, the field of neutrino astronomy. Using the IceCube neutrino detector we plan to search for high-energy neutrinos emitted from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), since AGN are believed to be one of the most promising sources of the most energetic cosmic rays and hence of high-energy neutrinos. We discuss a specific type of AGN which we plan to investigate in more detail with data obtained by the IceCube observatory. The main properties of the AGN category in which we are interested are given by a high-energy jet which is pointing in our line of sight defining a class of AGN, called Blazars, and in particular the ones that are obscured by surrounding dust. The jet-matter interaction is expected to give an increased high-energy neutrino production. The properties of this specific type of AGN are expected to give very distinct features in the electromagnetic spectrum, which are discussed in detail.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Obscured flat spectrum radio AGN as sources of high-energy neutrinos

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are believed to be one of the main source candidates for the high-energy (TeV-PeV) cosmic neutrino flux recently discovered by the IceCube neutrino observatory. Nevertheless, several correlation studies between AGN and the cosmic neutrinos detected by IceCube show no significance. Therefore, in this article we consider a specific sub-class of AGN for which an increased neutrino production is expected. This sub-class contains AGN for which their high-energy jet is pointing toward Earth. Furthermore, we impose the condition that the jet is obscured by gas or dust surrounding the AGN. A method is presented to determine the total column density of the obscuring medium, which is probed by determining the relative X-ray attenuation with respect to the radio flux as obtained from the AGN spectrum. The total column density allows us to probe the interaction of the jet with the surrounding matter which leads to additional neutrino production. Finally, starting from two different source catalogs, this method is applied to specify a sample of low redshift radio galaxies for which an increased neutrino production is expected.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Evaluation of expected solar flare neutrino events in the IceCube observatory

Since the end of the eighties and in response to a reported increase in the total neutrino flux in the Homestake experiment in coincidence with a solar flare, solar neutrino detectors have searched for solar flare signals. Neutrinos from the decay of mesons, which are themselves produced in collisions of accelerated protons with the solar atmosphere, would provide a novel window on the underlying physics of the acceleration process. For our studies we focus on the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a cubic kilometer neutrino detector located at the geographical South Pole. Due to its Supernova data acquisition system and its DeepCore component, dedicated to low energy neutrinos, IceCube may be sensitive to solar flare neutrinos and thus permit either a measurement of the signal or the establishment of more stringent upper limits on the solar flare neutrino flux. We present an approach for a time profile analysis based on a stacking method and an evaluation of a possible solar flare signal in IceCube using the Geant4 toolkit.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

On the detection of neutrinos from solar flares using pion-decay photons to provide a time window template

Since the end of the eighties and in response to a reported increase in the total neutrino flux in the Homestake experiment in coincidence with solar flares, solar neutrino detectors have searched for solar flare signals. Even though these detectors have used different solar flare samples and analyses, none of them has been able to confirm the possible signal seen by Homestake. Neutrinos from the decay of mesons, which are themselves produced in collisions of accelerated ions with the solar atmosphere would provide a novel window on the underlying physics of the hadronic acceleration and interaction processes during solar flares. Solar flare neutrino flux measurements would indeed help to constrain current parameters such as the composition of the accelerated flux, the proton/ion spectral index and the high energy cutoff or the magnetic configuration in the interaction region. We describe here a new way to search for these neutrinos by considering a specific solar flare sample and a data driven time window template which will improve the likelihood of neutrino detection.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Bayesian Approach for Counting Experiment Statistics applied to a Neutrino Point Source Analysis

In this paper we present a model independent analysis method following Bayesian statistics to analyse data from a generic counting experiment and apply it to the search for neutrinos from point sources. We discuss a test statistic defined following a Bayesian framework that will be used in the search for a signal. In case no signal is found, we derive an upper limit without the introduction of approximations. The Bayesian approach allows us to obtain the full probability density function for both the background and the signal rate. As such, we have direct access to any signal upper limit. The upper limit derivation directly compares with a frequentist approach and is robust in the case of low-counting observations. Furthermore, it allows also to account for previous upper limits obtained by other analyses via the concept of prior information without the need of the ad hoc application of trial factors. To investigate the validity of the presented Bayesian approach, we have applied this method to the public IceCube 40-string configuration data for 10 nearby blazars and we have obtained a flux upper limit, which is in agreement with the upper limits determined via a frequentist approach. Furthermore, the upper limit obtained compares well with the previously published result of IceCube, using the same data set.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2007

Implementation of a Gauss convoluted Pandel PDF for track reconstruction in Neutrino Telescopes

A probability distribution function is presented which provides a realistic description of the detection of scattered photons. The resulting probabilities can be described analytically by means of a superposition of several special functions. These exact expressions can be evaluated numerically only for small distances and limited time residuals, due to computer accuracy limitations. In this report we provide approximations for the exact expressions in different regions of the distance-time residual space, defined by the detector geometry and the space-time scale of an event. These approximations can be evaluated numerically with a relative error with respect to the exact expression at the boundaries of less than 0.001.

astro-ph↗