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Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment

Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment (RICE) is an experiment designed to detect the Cherenkov emission in the radio regime of the electromagnetic spectrum from the interaction of high energy neutrinos (greater than 1 PeV) with the Antarctic ice cap. The goals of this experiment are to determine the potential of the radio-detection technique for measuring the high energy cosmic neutrino flux, determining the sources of this flux, and measuring neutrino-nucleon cross sections at energies above those accessible with existing accelerators. Such an experiment also has sensitivity to neutrinos from gamma ray bursts, as well as highly-ionizing charged particles (monopoles, e.g.) traversing the Antarctic icecap.

Experimental Operation and Results

Two antennas were installed successfully during the 1995-96 austral summer. During the 1996-97 season, a prototype array of several antennas was deployed down the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) bore holes at depths from 140-210 meters. This prototype demonstrated the ability to successfully deploy receivers and transmitters and enabled an estimate of the noise temperature in the deep ice. Several more receivers and transmitters were deployed in three new AMANDA holes during the 1997-1998 season, in dedicated shallow "dry" holes during the 1998-99 season, and finally in several AMANDA holes drilled during the 1999-2000 season. Five years of data-taking (comprising two years of livetime) resulted in the most stringent upper limits on the neutrino flux in the interval 50 PeV - 1 EeV, as well as results on departures from Standard Model cross-sections and searches for Gamma-Ray Burst coincidences. Currently, RICE hardware is being modified for use in the IceCube boreholes being drilled from 2006-2010.