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Validating the performance of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland using cosmic-ray air showers

S. Agarwal, J. A. Aguilar, N. Alden, S. Ali, P. Allison, M. Betts, D. Besson, A. Bishop, O. Botner, S. Bouma, S. Buitink, R. Camphyn, J. Chan, S. Chiche, B. A. Clark, A. Coleman, K. Couberly, S. de Kockere, K. D. de Vries, C. Deaconu, P. Giri, C. Glaser, T. Glüsenkamp, H. Gui, A. Hallgren, S. Hallmann, J. C. Hanson, K. Helbing, B. Hendricks, J. Henrichs, N. Heyer, C. Hornhuber, E. Huesca Santiago, K. Hughes, A. Jaitly, T. Karg, A. Karle, J. L. Kelley, C. Kopper, M. Korntheuer, M. Kowalski, I. Kravchenko, R. Krebs, M. Kugelmeier, D. Kullgren, R. Lahmann, C. -H. Liu, Y. Liu, M. J. Marsee, K. Mulrey, M. Muzio, A. Nelles, A. Novikov, A. Nozdrina, E. Oberla, B. Oeyen, N. Punsuebsay, L. Pyras, M. Ravn, A. Rifaie, D. Ryckbosch, F. Schlüter, O. Scholten, D. Seckel, M. F. H. Seikh, Z. S. Selcuk, J. Stachurska, J. Stoffels, S. Toscano, D. Tosi, J. Tutt, D. J. Van Den Broeck, N. van Eijndhoven, A. G. Vieregg, A. Vijai, D. Washington, C. Welling, D. R. Williams, P. Windischhofer, S. Wissel, R. Young, A. Zink

Abstract

The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is currently under construction with the aim to detect neutrinos with energies beyond $\sim 10\,\mathrm{PeV}$. A critical part of early detector commissioning is the study of detector characteristics and potential backgrounds, for which cosmic rays play a crucial role. In this article, we report that the number of cosmic rays detected with RNO-G's shallow antennas is consistent with expectations. We further verified the agreement in the observed cosmic-ray signal shape with expectations from simulations after careful treatment of the detector systematics. Finally, we find that the reconstructed arrival direction, energy, and polarization of the cosmic-ray candidates agrees with expectations. Throughout this study, we identified detector shortcomings that are mitigated going forward. Overall, the analysis presented here is an essential first step towards validating the detector and high-fidelity neutrino detection with RNO-G in the future.

Validating the performance of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland using cosmic-ray air showers

Abstract

The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is currently under construction with the aim to detect neutrinos with energies beyond . A critical part of early detector commissioning is the study of detector characteristics and potential backgrounds, for which cosmic rays play a crucial role. In this article, we report that the number of cosmic rays detected with RNO-G's shallow antennas is consistent with expectations. We further verified the agreement in the observed cosmic-ray signal shape with expectations from simulations after careful treatment of the detector systematics. Finally, we find that the reconstructed arrival direction, energy, and polarization of the cosmic-ray candidates agrees with expectations. Throughout this study, we identified detector shortcomings that are mitigated going forward. Overall, the analysis presented here is an essential first step towards validating the detector and high-fidelity neutrino detection with RNO-G in the future.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 16 sections, 1 equation, 18 figures, 5 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Description of the dataset
  3. General analysis strategy and study of relevant systematic uncertainties
  4. Analysis strategy
  5. Systematic uncertainties
  6. Index of refraction:
  7. Antenna response:
  8. Timing calibration:
  9. Hardware response measurement:
  10. Event selection and validation
  11. Simulation framework
  12. Analysis of main dataset
  13. Cross-check for background contamination
  14. Characteristics of observed cosmic rays
  15. Other stations
  16. ...and 1 more sections

Figures (18)

  • Figure 1: The figure shows a schematic of the first 7 RNO-G stations. 24 antennas of three types (LPDA, Hpol, and Vpol) are distributed in the shallow ice and in three boreholes.
  • Figure 2: The figure shows the trigger rate (the sum of upward and downward-facing triggers using the LPDAs) as a function of time for all science data of the seven stations in 2022.
  • Figure 3: The same as Fig. \ref{['fig:trigger_rates_2022']} for the year 2023. The shaded regions for station 23 show the different configurations of that station. The first configuration is marked by the dark shaded region, while the first light shaded region marks configuration 3 and the second marks configuration 2 (see text for details).
  • Figure 4: The figure shows from left to right the waveforms of the two signal ($\sigma = 0.625\,\mathrm{ns}$, $\sigma = 1.25\,\mathrm{ns}$) and the two background templates ($\sigma = 1.5625\,\mathrm{ns}$, $\sigma = 2.1875\,\mathrm{ns}$). The Gaussian width $\sigma$ is defined in waveform samples and subsequently converted to nanoseconds, which explains the very precise values.
  • Figure 5: The figure shows the correlation score as function of SNR ratio obtained from an example UHECR simulation. The colorbar indicates logarithmically the expected event rate per day. Also shown are three lines that illustrate the value per SNR-bin that retains 90%, 95%, and 99% of the simulated UHECRs, respectively (see Sec. \ref{['Three_main_station_analysis']}). The simulation is performed with an example threshold of $25 \,\mathrm{mV}$.
  • ...and 13 more figures