Project Title

Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations

Summary

Event Number:
A-125-M
NASA / LDB Agreement

Program Director:
Dr. Marion Dierickx

ASC POC/Implementer:
Marissa Goerke / Kaija Webster / Chad Naughton

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Abigail G Vieregg
avieregg@kicp.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago
Department of Physics
Chicago, Illinois

Project Web Site:
http://pueo.space/

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: McMurdo Long Duration Balloon (LDB) Facility

Description

Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) will observe the interactions of cosmic ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrinos in deep ice and UHE cosmic rays in the Antarctic atmosphere. PUEO will use this information to characterize astrophysical source populations in the distant universe with a maximum proton acceleration energy above 10^21 electronvolts (eV). PUEO will also identify astrophysical sources that create neutrinos at energies above 10^18 eV in flaring events that occur within a month-scale cadence, with fluences at levels predicted from neutron star mergers, high luminosity quasars, and short gamma ray bursts. Neutrinos are observed through interactions with the ice sheets, causing subatomic particle showers and resulting in impulsive radio emission detectable from the PUEO payload in orbit in the polar vortex. UHE cosmic ray nuclei create analogous particle cascades in the atmosphere above Antarctica, resulting in beamed radio pulses that PUEO detects, often in reflection off the ice sheets. These methodologies for UHE neutrino and cosmic ray detection were pioneered and validated by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) payload, and PUEO will extend the sensitivity of the techniques by at least one order of magnitude.

Field Season Overview

A team of up to 18 scientists will assemble and test the PUEO instrument at the Long Duration Balloon Facility (LDBF) beginning in mid-November. The target launch date for PUEO is December 1 but may be delayed given the mandated 2-week delay in the LDBF's open-to-science date. Two follow-on hand launch calibration "chaser payloads" named HiCal are designed to launch on or about the same day as the PUEO launch. Target flight duration is 60 days for PUEO and the two Hi-Cal payloads, with a minimum flight requirement of 7-10 days aloft. Prior to launch, two teams of two scientists each are requested to establish payload calibration stations at field sites such as Siple Dome and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide. Ideally, the teams will remain on site during flight to maintain and calibrate the stations, but the team members may be more valuable at the LDBF and could return to McMurdo Station immediately after site setup. The majority of the team will redeploy after launch, with a team of three remaining to help with payload recovery and pack up the instrument.

Deploying Team Members