Measurement of acoustic attenuation in South Pole ice

R. Abbasi (1) , Y. Abdou (2) , T. Abu-Zayyad (1) , J. Adams (3) , J.A. Aguilar (1) , M. Ahlers (4) , K. Andeen (1) , J. Auffenberg (5) , X. Bai (6) , Mark D. Baker (1) , S.W. Barwick (7) , R. Bay (8) , J.L. Bazo Alba , K. Beattie , J.J. Beatty (9, 10) , S. Bechet (11) , J.K. Becker , K.-H. Becker (5) , M.L. Benabderrahmane , J. Berdermann , P. Berghaus (1) , D. Berley (12) , E. Bernardini , D. Bertrand (11) , D.Z. Besson (13) , M. Bissok (14) , E. Blaufuss (12) , D.J. Boersma (14) , C. Bohm (15) , S. Böser (16) , O. Botner (17) , L. Bradley (18) , J. Braun (1) , S. Buitink , M. Carson (2) , D. Chirkin (1) , B. Christy (12) , J. Clem (6) , F. Clevermann (19) , S. Cohen (20) , C. Colnard (21) , D.F. Cowen (18, 22) , M.V. d'Agostino (8) , M. Danninger (15) , C. de Clercq (23) , L. Demirörs (20) , O. Depaepe (23) , F. Descamps (2) , P. Desiati (1) , G. de Vries-Uiterweerd (2) , T. de Young (18) , J.C. Di'Az-Vélez (1) , J. Dreyer , J.P. Dumm (1) , M.R. Duvoort (24) , R. Ehrlich (12) , J. Eisch (1) , R.W. Ellsworth (12) , O. Engdegård (17) , S. Euler (14) , P.A. Evenson (6) , O. Fadiran , A.R. Fazely (25) , T. Feusels (2) , K. Filimonov (8) , C. Finley (15) , M.M. Foerster (18) , B.D. Fox (18) , A. Franckowiak (26) , R. Franke , T.K. Gaisser (6) , J. Gallagher (27) , R. Ganugapati (1) , M. Geisler (14) , L. Gerhardt (8) , L. Gladstone (1) , T. Glüsenkamp (14) , A. Goldschmidt , J.A. Goodman (12) , D. Grant (28) , T. Griesel (29) , A. Gross (30, 21) , S. Grullon (1) , R.M. Gunasingha (25) , M. Gurtner (5) , L. Gustafsson (17) , C. Ha (18) , A. Hallgren (17) , F. Halzen (1) , K. Han (30) , K. Hanson (1) , K. Helbing (5) , P. Herquet (31) , S. Hickford (30) , G.C. Hill (1) , K.D. Hoffman (12) , A. Homeier (26) , K. Hoshina (1) , D. Hubert (23) , W. Huelsnitz (12) , J.-P. Hülss (14) , P.O. Hulth (15) , K. Hultqvist (15) , S. Hussain (6) , R.L. Imlay (25) , A. Ishihara (32) , J. Jacobsen (31) , G.S. Japaridze , H. Johansson (15) , J.M. Joseph , K.-H. Kampert (5) , A. Kappes (1) , T. Karg (5) , A. Karle (1) , J.L. Kelley (1) , N. Kemming (26) , P. Kenny (13) , J. Kiryluk (8) , F. Kislat , S.R. Klein (8) , S. Knops (14) , J.-H. Köhne (19) , G. Kohnen (31) , H. Kolanoski (26) , L. Köpke (29) , D.J. Koskinen (18) , M. Kowalski (16) , T. Kowarik (29) , M. Krasberg (1) , T. Krings (14) , G. Kroll (29) , K. Kuehn (9) , T. Kuwabara (6) , M. Labare (11) , S. Lafebre (18) , K. Laihem (14) , H. Landsman (1) , R. Lauer , R. Lehmann (26) , D. Lennarz (14) , J. Lünemann (29) , Jens Madsen (1) , P. Majumdar , R. Maruyama (1) , K. Mase (32) , H.S. Matis , M. Matusik (5) , K. Meagher (12) , M. Merck (1) , P. Mészáros (18, 22) , T. Meures (14) , E. Middell , N. Milke (19) , T. Montaruli (1) , R. Morse (1) , S.M. Movit (22) , R. Nahnhauer , J.W. Nam (7) , U. Naumann (5) , P. Niessen (6) , D.R. Nygren , S. Odrowski (21) , A. Olivas (12) , M. Olivo (17) , M. Ono (32) , S. Panknin (26) , L. Paul (14) , C. Pérez de Los Heros (17) , J. Petrovic (11) , A. Piegsa (29) , D. Pieloth (19) , R. Porrata (8) , J. Posselt (5) , P.B. Price (8) , M. Prikockis (18) , G.T. Przybylski , K. Rawlins (33) , P. Redl (12) , E. Resconi (21) , W. Rhode (19) , M. Ribordy (20) , A. Rizzo (23) , J.P. Rodrigues (1) , P. Roth (12) , F. Rothmaier (29) , C. Rott (9) , C. Roucelle (21) , T. Ruhe (19) , D. Rutledge (18) , B. Ruzybayev (6) , D. Ryckbosch (2) , H.-G. Sander (29) , S. Sarkar (4) , K. Schatto (29) , S. Schlenstedt , T. Schmidt (12) , D. Schneider (1) , A. Schukraft (14) , A. Schultes (5) , O. Schulz (21) , M. Schunck (14) , D. Seckel (6) , B. Semburg (5) , S.H. Seo (15) , Y. Sestayo (21) , S. Seunarine (34) , A. Silvestri (7) , A. Slipak (18) , G.M. Spiczak (1) , C. Spiering , M. Stamatikos (9) , T. Stanev (6) , G. Stephens (18) , T. Stezelberger , R.G. Stokstad , S. Stoyanov (6) , E.A. Strahler (23) , T. Straszheim (12) , G.W. Sullivan (12) , Q. Swillens (11) , I. Taboada (35) , A. Tamburro (1) , O. Tarasova , A. Tepe (35) , S. Ter-Antonyan (25) , S. Tilav (6) , P.A. Toale (18) , D. Tosi , D. Turčan (12) , N. van Eijndhoven (23) , J. Vandenbroucke (8) , A. van Overloop (2) , J. van Santen (26) , B. Voigt , C. Walck (15) , T. Waldenmaier (26) , M. Wallraff (14) , M. Walter , C. Wendt (1) , S. Westerhoff (1) , N. Whitehorn (1) , K. Wiebe (29) , C.H. Wiebusch (14) , G. Wikström (15) , D.R. Williams (3) , R. Wischnewski , H. Wissing (12) , K. Woschnagg (8) , C. Xu (6) , X.W. Xu (25) , J.P. Yanez (17) , G. Yodh (7) , S. Yoshida (32) , P. Zarzhitsky (3)

1 Dept. of Physics
2 Dept. of Subatomic and Radiation Physics
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Tuscaloosa)
4 Dept. of Physics
5 Dept. of Physics
6 University of Delaware [Newark]
7 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Irvine]
8 Dept. of Physics
9 OSU - Ohio State University [Columbus]
10 Dept. of Astronomy
11 Science Faculty CP230
12 Dept. of Physics
13 Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
14 RWTH - Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University
15 Stockholm University
16 Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
17 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
18 Dept. of Physics
19 Dept. of Physics
20 École Polytechnique Fédérale
21 MPIK - Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
22 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics [PennState]
23 VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel
24 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Utrecht]
25 Dept. of Physics
26 HU Berlin - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin = Humboldt University of Berlin = Université Humboldt de Berlin
27 Dept. of Astronomy
28 Department of Physics [Edmonton]
29 University of Mainz
30 DPA - Department of Physics and Astronomy [Christchurch]
31 UMons - Université de Mons
32 Dept. of Physics
33 Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
34 Dept. of Physics
35 Georgia Institute of Technology [Atlanta]

Using the South Pole Acoustic Test Setup (SPATS) and a retrievable transmitter deployed in holes drilled for the IceCube experiment, we have measured the attenuation of acoustic signals by South Pole ice at depths between 190 m and 500 m. Three data sets, using different acoustic sources, have been analyzed and give consistent results. The method with the smallest systematic uncertainties yields an amplitude attenuation coefficient α=3.20 ± 0.57 km between 10 and 30 kHz, considerably larger than previous theoretical estimates. Expressed as an attenuation length, the analyses give a consistent result for λ ≡1/α of ∼300 m with 20% uncertainty. No significant depth or frequency dependence has been found.

Mots clés: neutrino astronomy; acoustics; South Pole; acoustic attenuation; ice

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]

R. Abbasi, Y. Abdou, T. Abu-Zayyad, J. Adams, J.A. Aguilar, et al.. Measurement of acoustic attenuation in South Pole ice. Astroparticle Physics, 2010, 34 (6), pp.382. ⟨10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.10.003⟩. ⟨hal-00710482⟩