The Hybrid Elevated Radio Observatory for Neutrinos (HERON) Project

Abstract

Measuring ultra-high energy neutrinos, with energies above $10^{16}$ eV, is the next frontier of the emerging multi-messenger era. Their detection requires building a large-scale detector with 10 times the instantaneous sensitivity of current instruments, sub-degree angular resolution, and wide daily field of view. The Hybrid Elevated Radio Observatory for Neutrinos (HERON) is designed to be that discovery instrument. HERON combines the complementary features of two radio techniques being demonstrated by the BEACON and GRAND prototypes. Its preliminary design consists of 24 compact, elevated phased stations with 24 antennas each, embedded in a sparse array of 360 standalone antennas. This setup tunes the energy threshold to below 100 PeV, where the neutrino flux should be high. The sensitivity of the phased stations combines with the powerful reconstruction capacities of the standalone antennas to produce an optimal detector. HERON is planned to be installed at an elevation of 1,000 m across a 72 km-long mountain range overlooking a valley in Argentina's San Juan province. It would be connected to the worldwide network of multimessenger observatories and search for neutrino bursts from candidate sources of cosmic rays, like gamma-ray bursts and other powerful transients. With HERON's deep sensitivity, this strategy targets discoveries that cast new light into the inner workings of the most violent astrophysical sources at uncharted energies. We present the preliminary design, performances, and observation strategy of HERON.