Optimization of a Search for Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos in Four Years of Data of ARA Station 2
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Optimization of a Search for Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos in Four Years of Data of ARA Station 2 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brian A. Clark, M.Sc. Graduate Program in Physics The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee: Professor Amy Connolly, Advisor Professor John Beacom Professor James Beatty Professor Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin © Copyright by Brian A. Clark 2019 Abstract Ultra-high energy neutrinos are key messengers to the distant, high energy universe, as other particles typically used in high energy astronomy|such as cosmic rays and gamma rays|are either deflected or destroyed en-route to earth from distant cosmic accelerators. Detection of these rare neutrinos requires enormous detectors, and the focus of this thesis is on analysis and hardware work completed for a next-generation pathfinder experiment, the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA). First, we present a study of radio emission observed during an X-class solar flare in the ARA prototype instrument. This radiation is the first in ARA to be reconstructed to an extraterrestrial source on an event by event basis, and is a key demonstration of ARA's ability to locate astrophysical objects in the coordinate system of the celestial sphere. Second, we present the design, characterization, and performance of a new signal conditioning module designed for ARA. The module has a small spatial and power footprint, and features a bank of eight digital, tunable step attenuators which increase the dynamic range of the instrument. Finally, we present the optimization of an analysis of four years of data of station A2, as well as lay the groundwork for the extension of that study to A3. We present the design and performance of a new event-level thermal noise rejection algorithm, and for the first time in an ARA analysis, filter events of contaminating man- made noise. Finally, we present a procedure for optimizing cuts to achieve a best expected limit taking into account separate periods of data taking livetime. Looking forward, as ARA further accumulates livetime, and our analysis efficiency im- proves, we anticipate being able to set world-leading limits above approximately 10 EeV by 2022. With next generation neutrino telescopes coming online|e.g., RNO, IceCube-Gen2, PUEO, etc.|along with other observatories like aLIGO, LSST, and HAWC, we anticipate an exciting next decade for the field of multimessenger astronomy. ii To all the people who never stopped believing in me. iii Acknowledgments The list of people to thank is surely too long to fit on a few pages, but I will make the effort to acknowledge at least some of the people who have supported me in this endeavor. It takes a village|and the one supporting me has been nothing short of extraordinary. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Amy Connolly, who has challenged me over the course of the last five years to grow as a scholar, scientist, mentor, and person. Thank you for always supporting my ambitions, for expecting more of me than I ever thought myself capable, and for teaching me so much about doing good physics|always optimize your cuts, don't use jargon, and if it's not on Dropbox, it didn't happen! To members of the Connolly and Beatty groups, both past and present, thank you for be- ing incredible mentors, peers, and mentees. To research scientist Patrick Allison, thank you for teaching me how to solder, and how to think about the design and operation of hardware. Thanks also for being my \surrogate advisor" in the last weeks leading up to my unblinding request. To postdocs Carl Pfendner, Mike Sutherland, and Jordan Hanson, thank you for always tolerating my many questions. And to Carl, thank you for mentoring me through my first project on AraSimQC. To my peers in the Connolly-Beatty group who have already graduated|Brian Dailey, Sam Stafford, Jacob Gordon, and Oindree Banerjee|it was a joy to grow alongside you. Special thanks are due to Oindree Banerjee, for the many runs to Panera and Pita Pit, and always constant willingness to laugh, cry, or scream, sometimes at the same time. To my more recent colleagues of Jorge Torres, Keith McBride, Andres Medina, and Lauren Ennesser|thank you for being a constant source of energy, which has buoyed me in these last two months. Thanks especially to Keith for always being willing to get coffee and for listening to me rant. And thanks to Jorge for helping me finish all of the necessary limit plots for the diffuse analysis. I am equally grateful to all of the many undergraduate students I have had the opportunity to mentor here at OSU. I learned an enormous amount from you. Special thanks are due to Suren Gourapura, Lucas Smith, and Jason Torok for being the first group of undergrads I ever supervised, and for doing such an awesome job with building ARA stations. To the latest three \ASE" students|Alex Patton, Scott Janse, and Eliot Ferstl|I am appreciative of all your laughter and enthusiasm for flipping iv through ten-thousand reconstruction plots to identify surface noise. To my classmates here in the physics building|thank you. I would not have survived coursework without you. I cannot express enough thanks to Humberto Gilmer and Tony Lefeld, who were my steadfast companions through innumerable hours of homework and panic over core course exams. Paulo Montero, it was great to have you join the fold in QFT. I am especially grateful to my former office mate Khalida Hendricks, who was so supportive during my final weeks, and let me come play with her beagles to relax. Khal|congrats on your awesome new job. To my classmate Dylan Roderick and former classmate Kasandara Sullivan, thank you for letting me squat at your kitchen tables and for cooking dinner for me during my final weeks. I am also grateful to Michael Newburger, Kathryn Nicolich, and Chris Cappiello. To my colleagues down on the mezzanine, thank you for always answering my questions about neutrino and dark matter theory, particularly Mauricio Bustamante and Katie Auchettl. Special thanks to Shirley Li for being the first person to sit me down and seriously encourage me to to pursue a postdoc. I am thankful to my collaborators on the Askaryan Radio Array, and for the opportunity I received working on ARA to go to the South Pole. In particular, I have appreciated the camaraderie of Rishabh Khandelwal, Uzair Latif, and Ming-Yuan Lu. I am thankful to Dave Besson for being a supportive \god-parent" on the solar paper and for writing letters in support of my postdoctoral applications. I am thankful to Abby Vierreg, Eric Oberla, and Simon Archambault for making my trip to Antarctica so much fun. To all of the people who work in Antarctica as part of USAP|thank you for making my research possible. I am appreciative of my committee members Jim Beatty, John Beacom, and Zeke Johnston-Halperin for their time. Zeke, thank you for agreeing to serve on this committee. I am also grateful to former member Linn Van Woerkom, who has been with me since candidacy. Jim, thanks for always stopping by in the morning with a hearty Buongiorno! John, I will always be appreciative of your insightful advice. To my past mentors and teachers, thank you for supporting me and nurturing my love of physics. In particular, thanks to Erin Mulanax, my high school physics teacher in the Pattonville School District (Go Pirates!), who inspired my love of physics for the first time. I am appreciative of my undergraduate advisors at Washington University in St. Louis: Henric Krawczynski, who introduced me to astrophysics, and James Schilling, who took a chance on a random freshman and sponsored my first summer research project. I am thankful to The Ohio State University for providing an extraordinary place to be a student. A special thank you is due to program coordinator Kristina Dunlap for all her work in supporting me and my fellow students in the graduate program. I am thankful to all the organizations who have supported my research and education financially, particularly the Department of Physics for first-year fellowship support, and to the Physics Department and Astronomy Department for support as a Teaching Assistant. I am forever indebted to the v National Science Foundation for their support through the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Award DGE-1343012 which allowed me to have flexible and ambitious research goals. Lastly, I am grateful to the organizations which provided infrastructure support to my research| namely the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) and the CCAPP Antarctic Research Test Facility (CART). I am particularly grateful to Bryan Dunlap and Andrew Canale of the Department of Physics Computing office, who were always available at short-notice to help me fix my Linux box or recover from a hard-drive issue on my mac. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my family. To Mom and Dad, thank you for always believing in me, and encouraging me to chase my dreams, even when that involved doing things as crazy as spending a month at the South Pole. The advice to take it one day at a time was indispensable in staying motivated in these last months. To Marie and Brandon, you are the best siblings I could have asked for|thanks for always reminding me of the bigger picture. To my 94 year old grandmother, Marie, you inspire me everyday with your tenacity. I am eternally grateful that you \keep-a-going", and are going to come to Ohio to see me walk in Commencement.