The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays: Pathfinder Experiment for a Next-Generation Neutrino Observatory

• Published in: arXiv.org 2022-01
• Main Authors: Prohira, S, de Vries, K D, Allison, P, Beatty, J, Besson, D, Connolly, A, Dasgupta, P, Deaconu, C, De Kockere, S, Frikken, D, Hast, C, E Huesca Santiago, C -Y Kuo, Latif, U A, Lukic, V, Meures, T, Mulrey, K, Nam, J, Nozdrina, A, Oberla, E, Ralston, J P, Sbrocco, C, Stanley, R S, Torres, J, Toscano, S, Van den Broeck, D, N van Eijndhoven, Wissel, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cosmic ray showers; Cosmic rays; Experiments; Neutrinos; Radar echoes
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2104.00459

The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR) is a recently initiated experiment designed to detect the englacial cascade of a cosmic-ray initiated air shower via in-ice radar, toward the goal of a full-scale, next-generation experiment to detect ultra high energy neutrinos in polar ice. For cosmic rays with a primary energy greater than 10 PeV, roughly 10% of an air-shower's energy reaches the surface of a high elevation ice-sheet (\(\gtrsim\)2 km) concentrated into a radius of roughly 10 cm. This penetrating shower core creates an in-ice cascade many orders of magnitude more dense than the preceding in-air cascade. This dense cascade can be detected via the radar echo technique, where transmitted radio is reflected from the ionization deposit left in the wake of the cascade. RET-CR will test the radar echo method in nature, with the in-ice cascade of a cosmic-ray initiated air-shower serving as a test beam. We present the projected event rate and sensitivity based upon a three part simulation using CORSIKA, GEANT4, and RadioScatter. RET-CR expects \(\sim\)1 radar echo event per day.