Towards measurement of UHECR with the ARA experiment

Abstract

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) experiment at the South Pole aims to detect GZK (Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin) neutrinos (of energies from some PeV to higher energies) from extra-galactic sources. ARA looks for Askaryan emission in radio-wavelengths (150 to 800 MHz) from showers induced by neutrino-ice molecule collisions in Antarctica. This thesis was aimed at trying to identify the UHECR (Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray) signal in the ARA stations (or detectors), with each station consisting of radio antennas inside 200 m deep holes in the ice sheet. The CoREAS (CORSIKA-based Radio Emission from Air Showers) simulation was used to simulate radio emissions from cosmic ray air showers and predict voltage signals produced by UHECR in the ARA detectors. UHECR event templates were made for the ARA detectors. These templates were used in a template matching analysis method in order to identify possible UHECR shower candidates in the ARA-2 and ARA-3 "burn'' sample data for years 2013 to 2017 (the 'burn', or 'unblinded' sample data set consists of 10% of the full data set and is made by randomly selecting 1 in every 10 events in each data run with the goal of cut-tuning prior to analysis of the complete data sample).