%0 Journal Article
%T Radio-Wave Propagation in Salt Domes: Implications for a UHE Cosmic Neutrino Detector
%A Alina-Mihaela Badescu
%A Alexandra Saftoiu
%J Advances in High Energy Physics
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/901434
%X Salt deposits can be used as a natural dielectric medium for a UHE cosmic neutrino radio detector. Such a detector relies on the capability of reconstructing the initial characteristics of the cosmic neutrino from the measured radio electrical field produced at neutrino¡¯s interaction in salt by the subsequent particle shower. A rigorous characterization of the propagation medium becomes compulsory. It is shown here that the amplitude of the electric field vector is attenuated by almost 90% after 100£¿m of propagation in a typical salt rock volume. The heterogeneities in salt also determine the minimal uncertainty (estimated at 19%) and the resolution of the detector. 1. Introduction Ultra high energy neutrinos can be a proof of the theoretical upper limit on the energy of cosmic rays from distant sources, play an important role in the Big Bang scenario, and also unveil the mystery of the cosmic accelerator (pulsars, active galactic nuclei, etc.). In the same time they travel undeflected by intervening magnetic fields and interact very weakly. This makes their observation a scientifical and technical challenge. A cosmic neutrino detector images the sky using interactions of a nearly massless subatomic particle called neutrino. Neutrinos are weakly interacting particles that cannot be detected directly. Their properties are deduced by analyzing the showers resulted from their interaction with nuclei in the medium. One detection method was proposed by Askaryan [1]. He suggested that if a particle, including neutrinos, interacts within a volume of dielectric, a broadband electromagnetic (EM) field (including radio frequencies), that can be measured, will be generated. In order to compensate for the small interaction probability of the neutrino [2], a huge volume of detecting material is required that can be found in natural dielectric volumes, such as the ice sheets at the poles or natural salt domes. The medium should be transparent for the produced waves to ensure large propagation distances. Thus, ice can serve as the detecting medium for optical and radio waves (an example is the IceCube detector [3] that uses photomultipliers to measure the EM field) and salt¡ªfor radio waves. The latter was tested at Stanford Linear Accelerator where radio waves from high energy particles interacting in synthetic rock salt were detected [4]. One of the key problems associated with a neutrino radio detector in salt is the capability of reconstructing the characteristics of the cosmic neutrinos that interact in the salt volume from measurements of the radio radiation
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahep/2014/901434/