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Towards the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): the GRANDProto300 and GRAND@Auger prototypes

GRAND Collaboration, Jaime Álvarez-Muniz, Rafael Alves Batista, Aurélien Benoit-Lévy, Teresa Bister, Martina Bohacova, Mauricio Bustamante, Washington Carvalho, Yiren Chen, LingMei Cheng, Simon Chiche, Jean-Marc Colley, Pablo Correa, Nicoleta Cucu Laurenciu, Zigao Dai, Rogerio M. de Almeida, Beatriz de Errico, João R. T. de Mello Neto, Krijn D. de Vries, Valentin Decoene, Peter B. Denton, Bohao Duan, Kaikai Duan, Ralph Engel, William Erba, Yizhong Fan, Arsène Ferrière, Juan Pablo Góngora, QuanBu Gou, Junhua Gu, Marion Guelfand, Gang Guo, Jianhua Guo, Yiqing Guo, Claire Guépin, Lukas Gülzow, Andreas Haungs, Matej Havelka, Haoning He, Eric Hivon, Hongbo Hu, Guoyuan Huang, Xiaoyuan Huang, Yan Huang, Tim Huege, Wen Jiang, Sei Kato, Ramesh Koirala, Kumiko Kotera, Jelena Köhler, Bruno L. Lago, Zhisen Lai, Jolan Lavoisier, François Legrand, Antonios Leisos, Rui Li, Xingyu Li, Cheng Liu, Ruoyu Liu, Wei Liu, Pengxiong Ma, Oscar Macias, Frédéric Magnard, Alexandre Marcowith, Olivier Martineau-Huynh, Zach Mason, Thomas McKinley, Paul Minodier, Miguel Mostafá, Kohta Murase, Valentin Niess, Stavros Nonis, Shoichi Ogio, Foteini Oikonomou, Hongwei Pan, Konstantinos Papageorgiou, Tanguy Pierog, Lech Wiktor Piotrowski, Simon Prunet, Clément Prévotat, Xiangli Qian, Markus Roth, Takashi Sako, Sarvesh Shinde, Dániel Szálas-Motesiczky, Szymon Sławiński, Kaoru Takahashi, Xishui Tian, Charles Timmermans, Petr Tobiska, Apostolos Tsirigotis, Matías Tueros, George Vittakis, Vincent Voisin, Hanrui Wang, Jiale Wang, Shen Wang, Xiangyu Wang, Xu Wang, Daming Wei, Feng Wei, Emily Weissling, Juan Wu, Xiangping Wu, Xuefeng Wu, Xin Xu, Xing Xu, Fufu Yang, Lili Yang, Xuan Yang, Qiang Yuan, Philippe Zarka, Houdun Zeng, Chao Zhang, Jianli Zhang, Kewen Zhang, Pengfei Zhang, Qingchi Zhang, Songbo Zhang, Yi Zhang, Hao Zhou

Abstract

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND) is a proposed multi-messenger observatory of Ultra-High-Energy (UHE) particles of cosmic origin. Its main goal is to find the long-sought origin of UHE cosmic rays by detecting large numbers of them and the secondary particles created by their interactions like gamma rays and neutrinos. The GRAND Collaboration plans to achieve this using large arrays of radio antennas that look for the radio signals emitted by the air showers initiated by the interactions of the UHE particles in the atmosphere. Since 2023, three small-scale prototype GRAND arrays have been in operation: GRAND@Nançay in France, GRAND@Auger in Argentina, and GRANDProto300 in China. Together, their goal is to validate the detection principle of GRAND under prolonged field conditions, achieving efficient, autonomous radio-detection of air showers. We describe the hardware, software, layout, and operation of the GRAND prototypes. Using their data, we show a first characterization of the local electromagnetic environment of each site and a measurement of the Galactic synchrotron emission. Despite challenges, the successful operation of the prototypes confirms that the GRAND instrumentation is apt to address the goals of the experiment and lays the groundwork for its ensuing stages.

Towards the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): the GRANDProto300 and GRAND@Auger prototypes

Abstract

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND) is a proposed multi-messenger observatory of Ultra-High-Energy (UHE) particles of cosmic origin. Its main goal is to find the long-sought origin of UHE cosmic rays by detecting large numbers of them and the secondary particles created by their interactions like gamma rays and neutrinos. The GRAND Collaboration plans to achieve this using large arrays of radio antennas that look for the radio signals emitted by the air showers initiated by the interactions of the UHE particles in the atmosphere. Since 2023, three small-scale prototype GRAND arrays have been in operation: GRAND@Nançay in France, GRAND@Auger in Argentina, and GRANDProto300 in China. Together, their goal is to validate the detection principle of GRAND under prolonged field conditions, achieving efficient, autonomous radio-detection of air showers. We describe the hardware, software, layout, and operation of the GRAND prototypes. Using their data, we show a first characterization of the local electromagnetic environment of each site and a measurement of the Galactic synchrotron emission. Despite challenges, the successful operation of the prototypes confirms that the GRAND instrumentation is apt to address the goals of the experiment and lays the groundwork for its ensuing stages.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 17 sections, 1 equation, 16 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview of the GRAND prototype arrays
  3. The GRAND detection unit
  4. Mechanical structure
  5. Antenna and Low-Noise Amplifier
  6. Front-End Board
  7. Overall hardware system performance
  8. Power supply and electromagnetic shielding
  9. Communications
  10. Data acquisition processes
  11. Firmware and self-trigger algorithm
  12. Data acquisition software
  13. Data management
  14. Storage
  15. Quality monitoring
  16. ...and 2 more sections

Figures (16)

  • Figure 1: The GRAND prototype arrays. The three GRAND prototype arrays were deployed and have been in operation since 2023. They share a common basic instrumentation design, modified to suit the local environmental condition at the array site, and to test the performance of alternative hardware and software choices. This BlankMap-World-noborders.png has been obtained by the author(s) from the Wikimedia website, where it is stated to have been released into the public domain. It is included within this article on that basis (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlankMap-World-noborders.png).
  • Figure 2: Array layout of GRANDProto300 ( left) and of GRAND@Auger ( right). Each GRAND Detection Unit (DU) has an assigned identification number. The Central Station in GRANDProto300 and the Central Radio Station in GRAND@Auger house the central data acquisition (DAQ) systems of the experiments. Positions for GRANDProto300 are given with respect to DU 1 of GP300_s65. For GRAND@Auger, DU positions are given in the Auger Coordinate System. We also show the nearby AERA radio-stations (in grey) and access roads.
  • Figure 3: GRAND detection unit deployed in GRANDProto300.Left: The 3.5-m vertical pole holds the antenna and the nut (Section \ref{['sec:setUp_mechanical']}) containing the low-noise amplifier (Section \ref{['sec:setUp_antenna_lna']}). Midway along the pole lies the communications antenna. The solar panel at the bottom also functions as a door, providing access to an enclosure that houses the battery and charge controller. Right: Photograph of a unit deployed at the GP300 site, in China. The box attached at the bottom of the pole stores the front-end board (Section \ref{['sec:FEB']}) and on its top-right corner is the GPS antenna.
  • Figure 4: GRAND detection unit deployed in GRAND@Auger.Left: The green pole is an aluminum tube attached to the original AERA pole with an adapter ring to increase the antenna height to 3 m (Section \ref{['sec:setUp_mechanical']}). The antenna head, containing the low-noise amplifier (Section \ref{['sec:setUp_antenna_lna']}), is connected to a sleeve on the top of the pole, which is kept in place with a bolt. A communications antenna is mounted midway along the pole. The triangular shaped box in the lower half, from the original AERA design, contains the battery, the front-end board (Section \ref{['sec:FEB']}), and the charge controller. It also serves as support for the solar panel. Right: Photograph of a unit deployed at the G@A site, in Argentina. The plastic mesh around the DU protects it from free-roaming animals in the area.
  • Figure 5: Schematic diagrams of the GRAND Horizon Antenna and nut.Left: The antenna, with three arms: two dipoles in the North-South and East-West directions, and a monopole in the vertical one. Right: The nut: the acrylic, in blue, holds the antenna arms and protects the interior metal connectors, inside the support, in yellow. These connect the antenna arms to the LNA board, held at the metal base, in green.
  • ...and 11 more figures