Even though this blog has been quiet, ARIANNA construction has been proceeding. In November, 2012, a group from the
University of California, Irvine, led by Stuart Kleinfelder, visited the site
and deployed three radio-detection stations.
These three stations are the first half of the 7-station hexagonal
array; the remaining four stations should be deployed next season.
These stations include many improvements beyond the
prototypes that were previously deployed.
The electronics have been completely redesigned to use much less power
(less than 10 Watts, instead of 30). The
power systems are much beefier, with much larger wind generators, on much
higher towers. They should provide power
even though the winds only blow a small fraction of the time. The towers include a much larger solar panel,
which will power the station longer into the Antarctic twilight. The stations also sports new lithium batteries
which replace the old lead-acid gel batteries.
They have a much higher power:weight ratio (key for helicopter
transport) and better low-temperature performance. The stations are able to communicate directly
with the internet repeater on Mt. Discovery.
In short, this is the first half of an array that should be
able to make a physics measurement, either observing GZK neutrinos produced
when ultra-high energy cosmic rays interact with the cosmic microwave background radiation, or setting a
competitive limit on their flux.
