In situ estimation of ice crystal properties at the South Pole using LED calibration data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory instruments about 1 km 3 of deep, glacial ice at the geographic South Pole. It uses 5160 photomultipliers to detect Cherenkov light emitted by charged relativistic particles. An unexpected light propagation effect observed by the experiment is an anisotropic attenuat...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: Abbasi, Rasha, Ackermann, Markus, Adams, Jenni, Aggarwal, Nakul, Aguilar, Juanan, Ahlers, Markus, Ahrens, Maryon, Alameddine, Jean-Marco, Alves, Antonio Augusto, Amin, Najia Moureen Binte, Andeen, Karen, Anderson, Tyler, Anton, Gisela, Arguelles, Carlos, Ashida, Yosuke, Athanasiadou, Sofia, Axani, Spencer, Bai, Xinhua, Balagopal, Aswathi, Baricevic, Moreno, Barwick, Steve, Basu, Vedant, Bay, Ryan, Beatty, James, Becker, Karl Heinz, Tjus, Julia Becker, Beise, Jakob, Bellenghi, Chiara, Benda, Samuel, BenZvi, Segev, Berley, David, Bernardini, Elisa, Besson, Dave, Binder, Gary, Bindig, Daniel, Blaufuss, Erik, Blot, Summer, Bontempo, Federico, Book, Julia, Borowka, Juergen, Meneguolo, Caterina Boscolo, Boeser, Sebastian, Botner, Olga, Boettcher, Jakob, Bourbeau, Etienne, Braun, Jim, Brinson, Bennett, Brostean-Kaiser, Jannes, Burley, Ryan, Busse, Raffaela, Campana, Michael, Carnie-Bronca, Erin, Chen, Chujie, Chen, Zheyang, Chirkin, Dmitry, Choi, Koun, Clark, Brian, Classen, Lew, Coleman, Alan, Collin, Gabriel, Connolly, Amy, Conrad, Janet, Coppin, Paul, Correa, Pablo, Countryman, Stefan, Cowen, Doug, Cross, Robert, Dappen, Christian, Dave, Pranav, De Clercq, Catherine, DeLaunay, James, Lopez, Diyaselis Delgado, Dembinski, Hans, Deoskar, Kunal, Desai, Abhishek, Desiati, Paolo, de Vries, Krijn, de Wasseige, Gwenhael, DeYoung, Tyce, Diaz, Alejandro, Diaz-Velez, Juan Carlos, Dittmer, Markus, Dujmovic, Hrvoje, DuVernois, Michael, Ehrhardt, Thomas, Eller, Philipp, Engel, Ralph, Erpenbeck, Hannah, Evans, John, Evenson, Paul, Fan, Kwok Lung, Fazely, Ali, Fedynitch, Anatoli, Feigl, Nora, Fiedlschuster, Sebastian, Fienberg, Aaron, Finley, Chad, Fischer, Leander, Fox, Derek, Franckowiak, Anna, Friedman, Elizabeth, Fritz, Alexander, Fuerst, Philipp, Gaisser, Tom, Gallagher, Jay, Ganster, Erik, Garcia, Alfonso, Garrappa, Simone, Gerhardt, Lisa, Ghadimi, Ava, Glaser, Christian, Gluesenkamp, Thorsten, Glauch, Theo, Goehlke, Noah, Gonzalez, Javier, Goswami, Sreetama, Grant, Darren, Gray, Shannon, Gregoire, Timothee, Griswold, Spencer, Guether, Christoph, Gutjahr, Pascal, Haack, Christian, Hallgren, Allan, Halliday, Robert, Halve, Lasse, Halzen, Francis, Hamdaoui, Hassane, Minh, Martin Ha, Hanson, Kael, Hardin, John, Harnisch, Alexander, Hatch, Patrick, Haungs, Andreas, Helbing, Klaus, Hellrung, Jonas, Henningsen, Felix, Heuermann, Lars, Hickford, Stephanie, Hill, Colton, Hill, Gary, Hoffman, Kara, Hoshina, Kotoyo, Hou, Wenjie, Huber, Thomas, Hultqvist, Klas, Huennefeld, Mirco, Hussain, Raamis, Hymon, Karolin, In, Seongjin, Iovine, Nadege, Ishihara, Aya, Jansson, Matti, Japaridze, George, Jeong, Minjin, Jin, Miaochen, Ben Jones, missing, Kang, Donghwa, Kang, Woosik, Kang, Xinyue, Kappes, Alexander, Kappesser, David, Kardum, Leonora, Karg, Timo, Karl, Martina, Karle, Albrecht, Katz, Uli, Kauer, Matt, Kelley, John, Kheirandish, Ali, Kin, Ken'ichi, Kiryluk, Joanna, Klein, Spencer, Kochocki, Alina, Koirala, Ramesh, Kolanoski, Hermann, Kontrimas, Tomas, Koepke, Lutz, Kopper, Claudio, Koskinen, Jason, Koundal, Paras, Kovacevich, Michael, Kowalski, Marek, Kozynets, Tetiana, Krupczak, Emmett, Kun, Emma, Kurahashi, Naoko, Lad, Neha, Gualda, Cristina Lagunas, Larson, Michael, Lauber, Frederik, Lazar, Jeffrey, Lee, Jiwoong, Leonard, Kayla, Leszczynska, Agnieszka, Lincetto, Massimiliano, Liu, Qinrui, Liubarska, Maria, Lohfink, Elisa, Love, Christina, Mariscal, Cristian Jesus Lozano, Lu, Lu, Lucarelli, Francesco, Ludwig, Andrew, Luszczak, William, Lyu, Yang, Ma, Wing Yan, Madsen, Jim, Mahn, Kendall, Makino, Yuya, Mancina, Sarah, Sainte, Wenceslas Marie, Maris, Ioana, Marka, Szabolcs, Marka, Zsuzsa, Marsee, Matthew, Martinez-Soler, Ivan, Maruyama, Reina, McElroy, Thomas, McNally, Frank, Mead, James Vincent, Meagher, Kevin, Mechbal, Sarah, Medina, Andres, Meier, Maximilian, Meighen-Berger, Stephan, Merckx, Yarno, Micallef, Jessie, Mockler, Daniela, Montaruli, Teresa, Moore, Roger, Morse, Bob, Moulai, Marjon, Mukherjee, Tista, Naab, Richard, Nagai, Ryo, Naumann, Uwe, Nayerhoda, Amid, Necker, Jannis, Neumann, Miriam, Niederhausen, Hans, Nisa, Mehr, Nowicki, Sarah, Pollmann, Anna Obertacke, Oehler, Marie, Oeyen, Bob, Olivas, Alex, Orsoe, Rasmus, Osborn, Jesse, O'Sullivan, Erin, Pandya, Hershal, Pankova, Daria, Park, Nahee, Parker, Grant, Paudel, Ek Narayan, Paul, Larissa, de los Heros, Carlos Perez, Peters, Lilly, Peterson, Josh, Philippen, Saskia, Pieper, Sarah, Pizzuto, Alex, Plum, Matthias, Popovych, Yuiry, Porcelli, Alessio, Rodriguez, Maria Prado, Pries, Brandon, Procter-Murphy, Rachel, Przybylski, Gerald, Raab, Christoph, Rack-Helleis, John, Rameez, Mohamed, Rawlins, Katherine, Rechav, Zoe, Rehman, Abdul, Reichherzer, Patrick, Renzi, Giovanni, Resconi, Elisa, Reusch, Simeon, Rhode, Wolfgang, Richman, Mike, Rongen, Martin, Rott, Carsten, Ruhe, Tim, Li Ruohan, missing, Ryckbosch, Dirk, Cantu, Devyn Rysewyk, Safa, Ibrahim, Saffer, Julian, Salazar-Gallegos, Daniel, Sampathkumar, Pranav, Herrera, Sebastian Sanchez, Sandrock, Alexander, Santander, Marcos, Sarkar, Sourav, Sarkar, Subir, Schaufel, Merlin, Schieler, Harald, Schindler, Sebastian, Schlueter, Berit, Schmidt, Torsten, Schneider, Judith, Schroeder, Frank, Schumacher, Lisa, Schwefer, Georg, Sclafani, Steve, Seckel, Dave, Seunarine, Surujhdeo, Sharma, Ankur, Shefali, Shefali, Shimizu, Nobuhiro, Silva, Manuel, Skrzypek, Barbara, Ben Smithers, missing, Snihur, Robert, Soedingrekso, Jan, Sogaard, Andreas, Soldin, Dennis, Spannfellner, Christian, Spiczak, Glenn, Spiering, Christian, Stamatikos, Michael, Stanev, Todor, Stein, Robert, Stezelberger, Thorsten, Stuerwald, Timo, Stuttard, Thomas, Sullivan, Greg, Taboada, Ignacio, Ter-Antonyan, Samvel, Thompson, Will, Thwaites, Jessie, Tilav, Serap, Tollefson, Kirsten, Toennis, Christoph, Toscano, Simona, Tosi, Delia, Trettin, Alexander, Tung, Chun Fai, Turcotte, Roxanne, Twagirayezu, Jean Pierre, Ty, Bunheng, Elorrieta, Martin Unland, Upshaw, Karriem, Valtonen-Mattila, Nora, Vandenbroucke, Justin, van Eijndhoven, Nick, Vannerom, David, van Santen, Jakob, Vara, Javi, Veitch-Michaelis, Joshua, Verpoest, Stef, Veske, Doga, Walck, Christian, Wang, Winnie, Watson, Timothy Blake, Weaver, Chris, Weigel, Philip, Weindl, Andreas, Weldert, Jan, Wendt, Chris, Werthebach, Johannes, Weyrauch, Mark, Whitehorn, Nathan, Wiebusch, Christopher, Willey, Nathan, Williams, Dawn, Wolf, Martin, Wrede, Gerrit, Wulff, Johan, Xu, Xianwu, Yanez, Juan Pablo, Yildizci, Emre, Yoshida, Shigeru, Yu, Shiqi, Yuan, Tianlu, Zhang, Zelong, Zhelnin, Pavel
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01J08EGN5SX8NXVV1XFEE61JS1
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01J08EGN5SX8NXVV1XFEE61JS1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-75-2024
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01J08EGN5SX8NXVV1XFEE61JS1/file/01J08EJ9Y7MBM3BRBV15ZK0Z0V
Description
Summary:The IceCube Neutrino Observatory instruments about 1 km 3 of deep, glacial ice at the geographic South Pole. It uses 5160 photomultipliers to detect Cherenkov light emitted by charged relativistic particles. An unexpected light propagation effect observed by the experiment is an anisotropic attenuation, which is aligned with the local flow direction of the ice. We examine birefringent light propagation through the polycrystalline ice microstructure as a possible explanation for this effect. The predictions of a first-principles model developed for this purpose, in particular curved light trajectories resulting from asymmetric diffusion, provide a qualitatively good match to the main features of the data. This in turn allows us to deduce ice crystal properties. Since the wavelength of the detected light is short compared to the crystal size, these crystal properties include not only the crystal orientation fabric, but also the average crystal size and shape, as a function of depth. By adding small empirical corrections to this first-principles model, a quantitatively accurate description of the optical properties of the IceCube glacial ice is obtained. In this paper, we present the experimental signature of ice optical anisotropy observed in IceCube light-emitting diode (LED) calibration data, the theory and parameterization of the birefringence effect, the fitting procedures of these parameterizations to experimental data, and the inferred crystal properties.