Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment
Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2010. Includes bibliographical references. This work describes a search for cosmogenic neutrinos at energies above 1018 eV with the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). ANITA is a balloon-borne radio interferometer designed to measure radio impulsive emi...
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ftunivhawaiimano:oai:scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu:10125/101931 2023-07-30T03:56:31+02:00 Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment Romero-Wolf, Andrew Frederic 2010-12 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10125/101931 eng eng [Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [December 2010] Theses for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Physics. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/101931 Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos Thesis Text 2010 ftunivhawaiimano 2023-07-15T22:27:47Z Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2010. Includes bibliographical references. This work describes a search for cosmogenic neutrinos at energies above 1018 eV with the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). ANITA is a balloon-borne radio interferometer designed to measure radio impulsive emission from particle showers produced in the Antarctic ice-sheet by ultra-high energy neutrinos (UHEν). Flying at 37 km altitude the ANITA detector is sensitive to 1M km3 of ice and is expected to produce the highest exposure to ultra high energy neutrinos to date. The design, flight performance, and analysis of the first flight of ANITA in 2006 are the subject of this dissertation. Due to sparse anthropogenic backgrounds throughout the Antarctic continent, the ANITA analysis depends on high resolution directional reconstruction. An interferometric method was developed that not only provides high resolution but is also sensitive to very weak radio emissions. The results of ANITA provide the strongest constraints on current ultra-high energy neutrino models. In addition there was a serendipitous observation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray geosynchrotron emissions that are of distinct character from the expected neutrino signal. This thesis includes a study of the radio Cherenkov emission from ultra-high energy electromagnetic showers in ice in the time-domain. All previous simulations computed the radio pulse frequency spectrum. I developed a purely time-domain algorithm for computing radiation using the vector potentials of charged particle tracks. The results are fully consistent with previous frequency domain calculations and shed new light into the properties of the radio pulse in the time domain. The shape of the pulse in the time domain is directly related to the depth development of the excess charge in the shower and its width to the observation angle with respect to the Cherenkov direction. This information can be of great practical importance for interpreting actual data. Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet ScholarSpace at University of Hawaii at Manoa Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos |
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Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos Romero-Wolf, Andrew Frederic Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
topic_facet |
Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos |
description |
Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2010. Includes bibliographical references. This work describes a search for cosmogenic neutrinos at energies above 1018 eV with the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). ANITA is a balloon-borne radio interferometer designed to measure radio impulsive emission from particle showers produced in the Antarctic ice-sheet by ultra-high energy neutrinos (UHEν). Flying at 37 km altitude the ANITA detector is sensitive to 1M km3 of ice and is expected to produce the highest exposure to ultra high energy neutrinos to date. The design, flight performance, and analysis of the first flight of ANITA in 2006 are the subject of this dissertation. Due to sparse anthropogenic backgrounds throughout the Antarctic continent, the ANITA analysis depends on high resolution directional reconstruction. An interferometric method was developed that not only provides high resolution but is also sensitive to very weak radio emissions. The results of ANITA provide the strongest constraints on current ultra-high energy neutrino models. In addition there was a serendipitous observation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray geosynchrotron emissions that are of distinct character from the expected neutrino signal. This thesis includes a study of the radio Cherenkov emission from ultra-high energy electromagnetic showers in ice in the time-domain. All previous simulations computed the radio pulse frequency spectrum. I developed a purely time-domain algorithm for computing radiation using the vector potentials of charged particle tracks. The results are fully consistent with previous frequency domain calculations and shed new light into the properties of the radio pulse in the time domain. The shape of the pulse in the time domain is directly related to the depth development of the excess charge in the shower and its width to the observation angle with respect to the Cherenkov direction. This information can be of great practical importance for interpreting actual data. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Romero-Wolf, Andrew Frederic |
author_facet |
Romero-Wolf, Andrew Frederic |
author_sort |
Romero-Wolf, Andrew Frederic |
title |
Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
title_short |
Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
title_full |
Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
title_fullStr |
Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the ANITA experiment |
title_sort |
search for ultra high energy astrophysical neutrinos with the anita experiment |
publisher |
[Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [December 2010] |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10125/101931 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
Theses for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Physics. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/101931 |
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1772813510024101888 |