Permafrost - An Alternative Target Material for Ultra High Energy Neutrino Detection?

Abstract

The detection of cosmic neutrinos with energies above 1017 eV got growing interest during recent years. Possible target materials for in-matter arrays of ~100 km3 size under discussion are water, ice and rock salt. Here we propose to investigate permafrost as an additional alternative, covering ~20% of Earth land surface and reaching down to more than 1000 m depth at certain locations. If sufficiently large attenuation lengths for radio and acoustic signals can be demonstrated by in-situ measurements, the construction of a large hybrid array within this material may be possible in the Northern hemisphere. Properties and problems of a possible location in Siberia are discussed below. Some acoustic data are compared to laboratory measurements using "artificial" permafrost.