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Dave Besson

Publications and source records attributed to Dave Besson.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Seasonal Variation of Polar Ice: Implications for Ultrahigh Energy Neutrino Detectors

The upper $100 \, \mathrm{m}$ to $150 \, \mathrm{m}$ of the polar ice sheet, called the firn, has a time-dependent density due to seasonal variations in the surface temperature and snow accumulation. We present RF simulations of an in-ice neutrino-induced radio source that show that these density anomalies create variations in the amplitude and propagation times of radio signals propagating through polar firn at an altitude of ${\sim}3000 \, \mathrm{m}$ above sea level. The received power from signals generated in the ice that refract within the upper ${\sim} 15 \, \mathrm{m}$ firn are subject to a seasonal variation on the order of 10\%. These variations result in an irreducible background uncertainty on the reconstructed neutrino energy and arrival direction for detectors using ice as a detection medium.

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arXiv2025

Development of a Custom kV-amplitude, pressure-tolerant Radio-Frequency transmitter

Current experiments seeking first-ever observation of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos (UHEN) typically utilize radio frequency (RF) receiver antennas deployed in cold, radio-transparent polar ice, to measure the coherent RF signals resulting from neutrino interactions with ice molecules. Accurate calibration of the receiver response, sampling the full range of possible neutrino geometries, is necessary to estimate the energy and incoming direction of the incident neutrino. Herein, we detail the design and performance of a custom radio-frequency calibration transmitter, consisting of a battery-powered, kiloVolt-scale signal generator (`IDL' pulser) driving an antenna (South Pole UNiversity of Kansas antenna, or `SPUNK') capable of operating at pressures of 200 atmospheres. Performance was validated by lowering the transmitter into a borehole at the South Pole to a depth of 1740 m, yielding high Signal-to-Noise ratio signals at a distance of 5 km from the source.

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arXiv2025

Techniques for Continuous Wave Identification and Filtering in the Askaryan Radio Array

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA), located near the South Pole, is among the first experiments there designed to detect ultra-high energy neutrinos through the Askaryan effect. When such neutrinos interact in dense media like ice, they initiate particle cascades that generate coherent radio pulses. Operating in the 150-850 MHz band, ARA is deployed 80-200 meters deep in Antarctic ice, where the radio background is exceptionally low. Despite this, experiments such as ARA must still account for continuous wave (CW) signals, which can originate from anthropogenic sources, instrumental noise, and other environmental factors. These CW signals can obscure faint neutrino-induced pulses, complicating data analysis and event identification. Over the years, ARA has developed and refined techniques for CW filtering and identification, including spectral analysis, notch filtering, and phase-variance methods. These approaches exploit CW characteristics such as their narrowband nature and persistence to separate contamination from genuine impulsive events. We review the main CW identification and filtering techniques developed within the ARA collaboration and present recent improvements in adaptive, multi-stage filtering pipelines. These advances have led to faster processing, simpler operation, and more accurate CW suppression, improving data analysis quality. Their efficacy is demonstrated across all ARA stations, underscoring their role in reducing event misclassification and enhancing performance. By refining these techniques, this work not only improves the sensitivity of ARA but also highlights the importance of robust CW filtering for current and future neutrino radio detection experiments.

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arXiv2024

In-ice Askaryan Emission from Air Showers: Implications for Radio Neutrino Detectors

One of the most promising techniques for detecting ultra-high energy neutrinos involves the use of radio antennas to observe the 10-1000 MHz radiation generated by the showers that neutrinos induce in large volumes of ice. The expected neutrino detection rates of one neutrino or less per detector station per 10 years make the characterization of backgrounds a priority. The largest natural background comes from ultra-high energy cosmic rays which are orders of magnitude more abundant than neutrinos. Particularly crucial is the understanding of geometries in which substantial energy of the cosmic-ray-induced air shower is deposited in the ice giving rise to a compact in-ice shower close to the ice surface. We calculated the radio emission of air-shower cores using the novel CORSIKA 8 code and found it to be similar to the predictions for neutrino-induced showers. For the first time, we calculated the detection rates for O(100m) deep antennas yielding 10-100 detections per year and detector station, which makes this a useful calibration source as these downward-going signals can be differentiated from neutrino-induced showers based on the signal arrival direction. However, the presence of reflection layers in the ice confuses the arrival directions, which makes this a potentially important background. We review the existing information on reflecting layers in the South Pole glacier and, for the first time, quantify the corresponding rate of reflected air-shower signals for the proposed IceCube-Gen2 radio array and discuss mitigation strategies. The reflectivity of the layers is the dominant uncertainty resulting in rate predictions of much less than one detection to several detections per year for IceCube-Gen2 if not mitigated.

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arXiv2017

Radiowave Detection of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays

Radio waves, perhaps because they are uniquely transparent in our terrestrial atmosphere, as well as the cosmos beyond, or perhaps because they are macroscopic, so the basic instruments of detection (antennas) are easily constructable, arguably occupy a privileged position within the electromagnetic spectrum, and, correspondingly, receive disproportionate attention experimentally. Detection of radio-frequency radiation, at macroscopic wavelengths, has blossomed within the last decade as a competitive method for measurement of cosmic particles, particularly charged cosmic rays and neutrinos. Cosmic-ray detection via radio emission from extensive air showers has been demonstrated to be a reliable technique that has reached a reconstruction quality of the cosmic-ray parameters competitive with more traditional approaches. Radio detection of neutrinos in dense media seems to be the most promising technique to achieve the gigantic detection volumes required to measure neutrinos at energies beyond the PeV-scale flux established by IceCube. In this article, we review radio detection both of cosmic rays in the atmosphere, as well as neutrinos in dense media.

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arXiv2011

Updated Results from the RICE Experiment and Future Prospects for Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Detection at the South Pole

The RICE experiment seeks observation of ultra-high energy (UHE; >100 PeV) neutrinos interacting in Antarctic ice, by measurement of the radiowavelength Cherenkov radiation resulting from the collision of a neutrino with an ice molecule. RICE was initiated in 1999 as a first-generation prototype for an eventual, large-scale in-ice UHE neutrino detector. Herein, we present updated limits on the diffuse UHE neutrino flux, based on twelve years of data taken between 1999 and 2010. We find no convincing neutrino candidates, resulting in 95% confidence-level model-dependent limits on the flux which improve on our previous (2006) results by a factor of two. We also report on ice properties' studies, including observation of radiowave reflections from layers internal to the ice sheet. We observe correlations of these reflections with the local ice flow direction, and also qualitatively verify the expected reduction in radio frequency ice transparency with increasing depth/temperature. A new experimental initiative (the Askaryan Radio Array, ARA) commenced at South Pole in 2010-11 will improve the RICE sensitivity (per unit time) by approximately two orders of magnitude.

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arXiv2010

Study of electromagnetic backgrounds in the 25-300 MHz frequency band at the South Pole

Extensive air showers are detectable by radio signals with a radio surface detector. A promising theory of the dominant emission process is the coherent synchrotron radiation emitted by e+ e- shower particles in the Earth's magnetic field (geosynchrotron effect). A radio air shower detector can extend IceTop, the air shower detector on top of IceCube. This could increase the sensitivity of IceTop to higher shower energies and for inclined showers significantly. Muons from air showers are a major part of the background of the neutrino telescope IceCube. Thus a surface radio air shower detector could act as a veto detector for this muonic background. Initial radio background measurements with a single antenna in 2007 revealed a continuous electromagnetic background promising a low energy threshold of radio air shower detection. However, short pulsed radio interferences can mimic real signals and have to be identified in the frequency range of interest. These properties of the electromagnetic background was being measured at the South Pole during the Antarctic winter 2009 with two different types of surface antennas. In total four antennas are placed at distances ranging up to 400m from each other. In 2010 a small eight channel surface detector will test an amplitude threshold self trigger strategy with large dipole antennas on the South Pole snow ground. The installation will be described.

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arXiv2010

Radio Frequency Birefringence in South Polar Ice and Implications for Neutrino Reconstruction

Using a bistatic radar echo sounding (RES) system developed for calibration of the RICE particle astrophysics experiment at the South Pole, we have studied radio frequency (RF) reflections off the bedrock. The total propagation time of ~ns-duration, vertically (z-) broadcast radio signals, as a function of polarization orientation in the horizontal plane, provides a direct probe of the geometry-dependence of the ice permittivity to a depth of 2.8 km. We observe clear birefringent asymmetries along z- in the lowest half of the ice sheet, at a fractional level ~0.3%. This result is in contrast to expectations based on measurements at Dome Fuji, for which birefringence was observed in the upper 1.5 km of the ice sheet. This effect, combined with the increased radio frequency attenuation expected near the bedrock, renders the lower half thickness of South Polar ice less favorable than the upper half of the ice sheet in terms of its ultra-high energy neutrino detection potential.

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arXiv2006

Radiowave Neutrino Detection

Current experiments aimed at measuring the UHE (E>100 PeV) neutrino flux via detection of coherent Cherenkov radiation are summarized.

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