Extreme Energy Particle Astrophysics with ANITA-V JPL Co-I Proposal

This proposal is part of a larger proposal, Extreme Energy Particle Astrophysics with ANITA-V, with Peter Gorham as PI. The ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) probes the ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic particle spectrum through multiple channels. It was originally designed to search for the radio impulsive transient emission from UHE neutrino interaction in ice known as the Askaryan effect. After its first flight it was discovered that ANITA is sensitive to the geomagnetic emission from UHE cosmic ray air showers in the atmosphere, which is distinguishable from neutrinos by the polarization of the signal. This channel also provides sensitivity to up-going air showers such as those produced by tau neutrino interactions in the upper subsurface layers of the Earth leading to a tau decay air shower in the atmosphere. This detection channel will be the focus of ANITA-V. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide attitude determination subsystems. As in previous flights, this includes a suite of sun sensors, a magnetometer, and accelerometers. JPL also provides support for data analysis, photogrammetry, and thermal modeling of the payload.