Ph.D. Thesis Defense: Andrew Ludwig

10:00–11:00 am ERC 401

Ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrinos are a promising messenger particle, and their discovery would be an important step towards understanding the universe at energies above 10^18 eV. The ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is a NASA long duration balloon payload that aims to measure the UHE neutrino flux by detecting Askaryan radiation in the radio band from neutrinos interacting in the Antarctic ice. Previous ANITA flights have also demonstrated an ability to detect geomagnetically induced radio emission from UHE cosmic rays, both from emission beamed directly at the payload, and from emission that has been reflected off the Antarctic ice. I present information about the fourth flight of ANITA, which took place during December of 2016, including details of the instument, the calibration procedures, the analysis, and finally, the results.

Apr 18