Performance of the Horizontally Polarized Antennas Used in the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland

Hendricks, Bryan L.; on behalf of the RNO-G collaboration,; Aguilar, J. A. Aguilar; Allison, P.; Besson, D. Z.; Bishop, A.; Botner, O.; Bouma, S.; Buitink, S.; Castiglioni, W.; Cataldo, M.; Clark, B.~A.; Coleman, A.; Couberly, K.; Dasgupta, P.; De Kockere, S.; de Vries, K.~D.; Deaconu, Cosmin; DuVernois, M.~A.; Eimer, A.; Glaser, C.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Hallgren, A.; Hallmann, S.; Hanson, J.~C.; Hendricks, B.; Henrichs, J.; Heyer, N.; Hornhuber, C.; Hughes, K.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J.~L.; Korntheuer, M.; Kowalski, M.; Kravchenko, I.; Krebs, R.; Lahmann, Robert; Lehmann, P.; Latif, U. A.; Laub, P.; Liu, H.; Mammo, J.; Marsee, M.~J.; Meyers, Z.~S.; Mikhailova, M.; Michaels, K.; Mulrey, K.; Muzio, Marco Stein; Nelles, Anna; Novikov, A.; Nozdrina, A.; Oberla, E.; Oeyen, B.; Plaisier, I.; Punsuebsay, N.; Pyras, L.; Ryckbosch, D.; Schlüter, F.; Scholten, O.; Seckel, D.; Seikh, M.~F.~H.; Smith, D. J.B.; Stoffels, J.; Southall, D.; Terveer, K.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Van Den Broeck, D.~J.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vieregg, A.~G.; Vischer, J.~Z.; Welling, C.; Williams, D.~R.; Wissel, S. A.; Young, R.; Zink, A.

doi:10.22323/1.444.1133

Abstract

Radio detection of ultra-high energy neutrinos via the Askaryan effect has enabled a new generation of immense, cost-effective neutrino detectors due to the long attenuation lengths of radio signals in dense dielectric media. The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is one such detector with a unique view of the northern hemisphere; it is being built at the top of Greenland’s ice cap to take advantage of the low noise environment and large detection volume available in the pure ice. It currently has 7 fully operational independent autonomous stations spaced roughly 1 km apart and once completed will comprise 35 stations. Each station contains both a shallow component with broadband, high-gain antennas and an in-ice component with three strings of broadband, omnidirectional horizontally and vertically polarized antennas. Both polarization modes are needed to reconstruct the arrival direction of detected neutrinos. Here we discuss the design, simulation, validation, production, deployment, and performance of RNO-G’s horizontally polarized antennas.