Reconstruction and detector optimization for in-ice radio neutrino experiments

by Martin Ravn (Uppsala University)

Wednesday 4 Mar 2026, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Stockholm

10238, Beurlingrummet, Ångström

In-ice radio detection is a promising technique for measuring the predicted ultra-high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux. With the ongoing construction of RNO-G and the planned IceCube-Gen2 radio array, we have the opportunity to improve detector designs and analysis methods in order to accelerate the scientific progress of the field in the coming decades. In this talk, I will present two complementary projects. First, I introduce a likelihood-based approach to event reconstruction that improves precision and correctly estimates event-by-event uncertainties. Building on this, I present a differentiable end-to-end detector optimization pipeline based on differentiable programming and deep-learning surrogate models. It enables direct optimization of antenna positions and orientations to minimize reconstruction uncertainties.