https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-7612-8
Special Article – Tools for Experiment and Theory
NuRadioMC: simulating the radio emission of neutrinos from interaction to detector
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, 92697, Irvine, CA, USA
2
DESY, Platanenallee 6, 15738, Zeuthen, Germany
3
Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
4
IGFAE, Depto. de Física de Partículas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA
6
Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
7
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
8
Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
9
Department of Physics, Whittier College, Whittier, CA, USA
10
Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
11
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, 92697, Irvine, CA, USA
12
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, USA
13
Otterbein University, Westerville, OH, USA
14
Université Libre, Brussels, Belgium
15
Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany
16
Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, 93407, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
Received:
3
June
2019
Accepted:
5
January
2020
Published online:
31
January
2020
NuRadioMC is a Monte Carlo framework designed to simulate ultra-high energy neutrino detectors that rely on the radio detection method. This method exploits the radio emission generated in the electromagnetic component of a particle shower following a neutrino interaction. NuRadioMC simulates everything from the neutrino interaction in a medium, the subsequent Askaryan radio emission, the propagation of the radio signal to the detector and finally the detector response. NuRadioMC is designed as a modern, modular Python-based framework, combining flexibility in detector design with user-friendliness. It includes a state-of-the-art event generator, an improved modelling of the radio emission, a revisited approach to signal propagation and increased flexibility and precision in the detector simulation. This paper focuses on the implemented physics processes and their implications for detector design. A variety of models and parameterizations for the radio emission of neutrino-induced showers are compared and reviewed. Comprehensive examples are used to discuss the capabilities of the code and different aspects of instrumental design decisions.
© The Author(s) 2020
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Funded by SCOAP3
