Speaker
Description
The Radar Echo Telescope for Cosmic Rays (RET-CR), a pathfinder experiment for a future ultra-high-energy neutrino detector, is a recently deployed experiment designed to detect the ionization trail from a cosmic-ray-induced particle cascade penetrating a high-altitude ice sheet. In high-elevation ice sheets, a high-energy cosmic ray (E $>$ 10 PeV) at shallow zenith angle deposits more than 10 percent of its primary energy into the ice sheet producing energy densities several orders of magnitude higher than in air. This dense in-ice cascade can then be interrogated with an in-ice radar system. RET-CR consists of a phased-array transmitter and an array of receiving antennas located in the ice, triggered by scintillator panels on the surface with a surface-based radio array to aid in cosmic ray reconstruction. RET-CR is a pathfinder experiment, which aims to test the radar echo method for the Radar Echo Telescope for Neutrinos (RET-N). RET-CR was deployed at Summit Station, Greenland, running from May to August 2024. Initial results from the 2024 deployment will be presented.
