First constraints on the ultra-high energy neutrino flux from a prototype station of the Askaryan Radio Array

• DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2015.04.006
• Publication Date: 2015-05-02T12:15:06Z
• Authors: P. Allison; J. Auffenberg; R. Bard; J.J. Beatty; D.Z. Besson; C. Bora; C.-C. Chen; P. Chen; A. Connolly; J.P. Davies; M.A. DuVernois; B. Fox; P.W. Gorham; K. Hanson; B. Hill; K.D. Hoffman; E. Hong; L.-C. Hu; A. Ishihara; A. Karle; J. Kelley; I. Kravchenko; H. Landsman; A. Laundrie; C.-J. Li; T. Liu; M.-Y. Lu; R. Maunu; K. Mase; T. Meures; C. Miki; J. Nam; R.J. Nichol; G. Nir; A. O’Murchadha; C.G. Pfendner; K. Ratzlaff; M. Richman; B. Rotter; P. Sandstrom; D. Seckel; A. Shultz; J. Stockham; M. Stockham; M. Sullivan; J. Touart; H.-Y. Tu; G.S. Varner; S. Yoshida; R. Young
• Keywords: Testbed; Neutrino astronomy

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) is an ultra-high energy ($>10^{17}$ eV) cosmic neutrino detector in phased construction near the South Pole. ARA searches for radio Cherenkov emission from particle cascades induced by neutrino interactions in the ice using radio frequency antennas ($\sim150-800$ MHz) deployed at a design depth of 200 m in the Antarctic ice. A prototype ARA Testbed station was deployed at $\sim30$ m depth in the 2010-2011 season and the first three full ARA stations were deployed in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons. We present the first neutrino search with ARA using data taken in 2011 and 2012 with the ARA Testbed and the resulting constraints on the neutrino flux from $10^{17}-10^{21}$ eV.<br/>26 pages, 15 figures. Since first revision, added section on systematic uncertainties, updated limits and uncertainty band with improvements to simulation, added appendix describing ray tracing algorithm. Final revision includes a section on cosmic ray backgrounds. Published in Astropart. Phys. J<br/>