Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Measuring ultra-high energy neutrinos, with energies above $10^{16}$ eV, is the next frontier of the emerging multi-messenger era. Their detection requires building a large-scale detector with 10 times the instantaneous sensitivity of current instruments, sub-degree angular resolution, and wide daily field of view. The Hybrid Elevated Radio Observatory for Neutrinos (HERON) is designed to be that discovery instrument. HERON combines the complementary features of two radio techniques being demonstrated by the BEACON and GRAND prototypes. Its preliminary design consists of 24 compact, elevated phased stations with 24 antennas each, embedded in a sparse array of 360 standalone antennas. This setup tunes the energy threshold to below 100 PeV, where the neutrino flux should be high. The sensitivity of the phased stations combines with the powerful reconstruction capacities of the standalone antennas to produce an optimal detector. HERON is planned to be installed at an elevation of 1,000 m across a 72 km-long mountain range overlooking a valley in Argentina’s San Juan province. It would be connected to the worldwide network of multimessenger observatories and search for neutrino bursts from candidate sources of cosmic rays, like gamma-ray bursts and other powerful transients. With HERON’s deep sensitivity, this strategy targets discoveries that cast new light into the inner workings of the most violent astrophysical sources at uncharted energies. We present the preliminary design, performances, and observation strategy of HERON.
DOI: 10.22323/1.501.1078
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, University of Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Villum Fonden, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, China Scholarship Council, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Xunta de Galicia, Sorbonne Université, Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Awards: G1086978037, G1105844351, G1175115578, CAREER: Advancing the Search for Ultra-High-Energy Tau Neutrinos with High-Elevation Radio Detectors, G1496055848, G1610934229, G2262748287, 1) DESIGN AND FABRICATE INTERFEROMETRIC TRIGGER HARDWARE FOR BALLOON-BORNE COSMIC PARTICLE DETECTORS THAT IS SCALABLE TO LARGE NUMBERS OF CHANNELS O(100) BY REDUCING THE POWER CONSUMPTION PER CHANNEL INCREASING THE NUMBER OF CHANNELS PER BOARD AND DEVELOPING HIGH-SPEED COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY BETWEEN BOARDS. 2) PERFORM A TRADE STUDY AND INFORM DESIGN DECISIONS FOR FUTURE BALLOON MISSIONS BY FURTHER DEVELOPING OUR MONTE CARLO SIMULATION AND ADAPTING IT TO BALLOON GEOMETRIES., G294895050, G300979063, G3405914644, G3470217882, G3480869486, G3956782466, G3999575733, G4178081204, G425668148, G4320224000, G491712853, G5080475149, G5358377219, G5717897370, Radio Detection of the Highest Energy Neutrinos with a Ground-Based Interferometric Phased Array, G593054264, G6061736010, G7084143925, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G729497499, G744750012, G7805626310, G7863371703, G8262994006, G8280234160, G8345352404, G8497050386, CAREER: Advancing the Search for Ultra-High-Energy Tau Neutrinos with High-Elevation Radio Detectors, G863151887, G8800403394
OpenAlex ID: W4414451043