Introduction to PyREx

PyREx (Python package for an IceCube Radio Extension) is, as its name suggests, a Python package designed to simulate the measurement of Askaryan pulses via a radio antenna array around the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory. The code is designed to be modular so that it can also be applied to other askaryan radio antennas (e.g. the ARA and ARIANA collaborations).

Installation

The easiest way to get the PyREx package is using pip as follows:

pip install git+https://github.com/bhokansonfasig/pyrex#egg=pyrex

Alternatively, you can download the code from https://github.com/bhokansonfasig/pyrex and then either include the pyrex directory (the one containing the python modules) in your PYTHON_PATH, or just copy the pyrex directory into your working directory. PyREx is not currently available on PyPI, so a simple pip install pyrex will not have the intended effect.

Code Example

The most basic simulation can be produced as follows:

First, import the package:

import pryex

Then, create a particle generator object that will produce random particles in a cube of 1 km on each side with a fixed energy of 100 PeV:

particle_generator = pyrex.ShadowGenerator(dx=1000, dy=1000, dz=1000,
                                           energy_generator=lambda: 1e8)

An array of antennas that represent the detector is also needed. The base Antenna class provides a basic antenna with a flat frequency response and no trigger condition. Here we make a single vertical "string" of four antennas with no noise:

antenna_array = []
for z in [-100, -150, -200, -250]:
    antenna_array.append(
        pyrex.Antenna(position=(0,0,z), noisy=False)
    )

Finally, we want to pass these into the EventKernel and produce an event:

kernel = pyrex.EventKernel(generator=particle_generator,
                           ice_model=pyrex.IceModel, antennas=antenna_array)
kernel.event()

Now the signals received by each antenna can be accessed by their waveforms parameter:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
for ant in kernel.ant_array:
    for wave in ant.waveforms:
        plt.figure()
        plt.plot(wave.times, wave.values)
        plt.show()

Units

For ease of use, PyREx tries to use consistent units in all classes and functions. The units used are mostly SI with a few exceptions listed in bold below:

Metric	Unit
time	seconds (s)
frequency	hertz (Hz)
distance	meters (m)
density	grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm^3)
material thickness	grams per square centimeter (g/cm^2)
temperature	kelvin (K)
energy	gigaelectronvolts (GeV)
resistance	ohms (Ω)
voltage	volts (V)
electric field	volts per meter (V/m)