Speaker
Description
Neutrinos can escape extremely dense astrophysical environments, making them unique probes of cosmic-ray origins and fundamental physics. In water-based neutrino detectors, the longer optical scattering length can offer better pointing resolution than in ice. However, this advantage comes with rapidly varying environmental and detector conditions. Variations in water optical properties, detector geometry and intrinsic detector response can bias event reconstruction and reduce physics sensitivity if not properly calibrated.
This talk presents a novel in-situ calibration system for deep-sea neutrino telescopes, currently being implemented for the TRopIcal DEep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT). A dedicated calibration string is being designed for real-time monitoring of detector conditions, incorporating: (i) CMOS imaging to measure the water attenuation length; (ii) characterisation of optical background intensity and variability using multiple complementary sensors; (iii) inter-detector timing offset measurements with LED flashers and plastic-scintillator-based muon tagging; and (iv) hydrographic sensors to support the acoustic positioning system. The resulting impact on reconstruction performance for both track-like and cascade-like events will be discussed.
