STRAW-b (STRings for Absorption length in Water-b): the second pathfinder mission for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment

• Main Authors: Holzapfel, Kilian, Spannfellner, Christian, Aghaei, Omid, Baron, Andrew, Bedard, Jeanette, Böhmer, Michael, Bosma, Jeff, Deis, Nathan, Fink, Christopher, Fruck, Christian, Gärtner, Andreas, Gernhäuser, Roman, Henningsen, Felix, Hotte, Ryan, Jenkyns, Reyna, Karl, Martina, Khera, Natasha, Khera, Nikhita, Kulin, Ian, Lam, Alex, Lavallee, Tim, Leismüller, Klaus, Papp, Laszlo, Pirenne, Benoit, Price, Emily, Qiu, Tom, Rea, Immacolata Carmen, Resconi, Elisa, Round, Adrian, Rott, Carsten, Ruskey, Albert, Ruohan, Li, Sasaki, Keita, Tradewell, Matt, Traxler, Michael, Vivolo, Daniele, Wagner, Seann, Winter, Eva Laura, Wolf, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25-10-2023
• Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2310.16714

Since 2018, the potential for a high-energy neutrino telescope, named the
Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), has been thoroughly examined by two
pathfinder missions, STRAW and STRAW-b, short for short for Strings for
Absorption Length in Water. The P-ONE project seeks to install a neutrino
detector with a one cubic kilometer volume in the Cascadia Basin's deep marine
surroundings, situated near the western shores of Vancouver Island, Canada. To
assess the environmental conditions and feasibility of constructing a neutrino
detector of that scale, the pathfinder missions, STRAW and STRAW-b, have been
deployed at a depth of 2.7 km within the designated site for P-ONE and were
connected to the NEPTUNE observatory, operated by Ocean Networks Canada (ONC).
While STRAW focused on analyzing the optical properties of water in the
Cascadia Basin, \ac{strawb} employed cameras and spectrometers to investigate
the characteristics of bioluminescence in the deep-sea environment. This report
introduces the STRAW-b concept, covering its scientific objectives and the
instrumentation used. Furthermore, it discusses the design considerations
implemented to guarantee a secure and dependable deployment process of STRAW-b.
Additionally, it showcases the data collected by battery-powered loggers, which
monitored the mechanical stress on the equipment throughout the deployment. The
report also offers an overview of STRAW-b's operation, with a specific emphasis
on the notable advancements achieved in the data acquisition (DAQ) system and
its successful integration with the server infrastructure of ONC.