Using the Cherenkov Telescope onboard EUSO-SPB2 for Target of Opportunity searches of very high energy neutrino sources

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2) mission launched from Wanaka New Zealand on May 13, 2023. The mission ended after $36$ h due to a balloon leak that resulted in the payload being lost in the Pacific Ocean. Over the course of the mission, the onboard Cherenkov Telescope (CT) was pointed just below the Earth's limb to search for optical signals from upward-moving extensive air showers that were induced by decaying tau-leptons that were generated by the conversion of $>10$ PeV tau-neutrinos in Earth. Such very-high energy (VHE) neutrinos may be produced in several classes of astrophysical sources that are suspected of possibly accelerating particles to ultra-high energies. In this contribution, we discuss the EUSO-SPB2 Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) campaign to search for VHE neutrino signals coming from astrophysical sources that crossed the CT's field of view ($6.4^\circ \times 12.8^\circ$). We also present a new software tool designed for scheduling observations, the Neutrino Target Scheduler, that we developed to support the ToO campaign. We also calculate upper limits on the neutrino fluences from sources observed during the ToO campaign. Our observations demonstrate the viability of conducting ToO follow-up observations from a near space environment with future balloon missions, such as the pathfinder mission POEMMA-Balloon with Radio.

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Publication Details

Published
2025-09-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.22323/1.501.1051
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Using the Cherenkov Telescope onboard EUSO-SPB2 for Target of Opportunity searches of very high energy neutrino sources

Tobias Heibges, Lawrence Wiencke, Tonia M. Venters, D. Garg et al.
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
article

Using the Cherenkov Telescope onboard EUSO-SPB2 for Target of Opportunity searches of very high energy neutrino sources

Tobias Heibges, Lawrence Wiencke, Tonia M. Venters, D. Garg, Mary Hall Reno, Luke Kupari, Claire Guépin-detrigne
article en

Abstract

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2) mission launched from Wanaka New Zealand on May 13, 2023. The mission ended after $36$ h due to a balloon leak that resulted in the payload being lost in the Pacific Ocean. Over the course of the mission, the onboard Cherenkov Telescope (CT) was pointed just below the Earth's limb to search for optical signals from upward-moving extensive air showers that were induced by decaying tau-leptons that were generated by the conversion of $>10$ PeV tau-neutrinos in Earth. Such very-high energy (VHE) neutrinos may be produced in several classes of astrophysical sources that are suspected of possibly accelerating particles to ultra-high energies. In this contribution, we discuss the EUSO-SPB2 Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) campaign to search for VHE neutrino signals coming from astrophysical sources that crossed the CT's field of view ($6.4^\circ \times 12.8^\circ$). We also present a new software tool designed for scheduling observations, the Neutrino Target Scheduler, that we developed to support the ToO campaign. We also calculate upper limits on the neutrino fluences from sources observed during the ToO campaign. Our observations demonstrate the viability of conducting ToO follow-up observations from a near space environment with future balloon missions, such as the pathfinder mission POEMMA-Balloon with Radio.

U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
Openalex Percentile: Top 89%
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
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