Toward High Energy Neutrino Detection with the Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR)

• Published in: Proceedings of 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2021)
• Main Authors: Prohira, S., de Vries, K., Allison, P., Beatty, J., Besson, D., Connolly, A., Dasgupta, P., Deaconu, C., De Kockere, S., Frikken, D., Hast, C., Huesca Santiago, E., Kuo, C.Y., Latif, U.A., Lukic, V., Meures, T., Mulrey, K., Nam, J., Nozdrina, A., Oberla, E., Ralston, John P., Sbrocco, C., Stanley, R.S., Torres, J., Toscano, S., Van den Broeck, D., van Eijndhoven, N., Wissel, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Sissa Medialab 2022
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1808/34678; https://doi.org/10.22323/1.395.1082

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR) is a pathfinder experiment for the Radar Echo Telescope for Neutrinos (RET-N), a next-generation in-ice detection experiment for ultra high energy neutrinos. RET-CR will serve as the testbed for the radar echo method to probe high-energy particle cascades in nature, whereby a transmitted radio signal is reflected from the ionization left in its wake. This method, recently validated at SLAC experiment T576, shows promising preliminary sensitivity to neutrino-induced cascades above the energy range of optical detectors like IceCube. RET-CR intends to use an in-nature test beam: the dense, in-ice cascade produced when the air shower of an ultra high energy cosmic ray impacts a high-elevation ice sheet. This in-ice cascade, orders of magnitude more dense than the in-air shower that preceded it, is similar in profile and density to the expected cascade from a neutrino-induced cascade deep in the ice. RET-CR will be triggered using surface scintillator technology and will be used to develop, test, and deploy the hardware, firmware, and software needed for the eventual RET-N. We present the strategy, status, and design sensitivity of RET-CR, and discuss its application to eventual neutrino detection.