Speaker
Description
The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is designed to detect neutrinos at ultra-high energies, exploiting Askaryan emission in ice. However, this emission is not exclusive to neutrinos. Cosmic ray air shower cores can continue cascading in the ice, producing Askaryan emission that in limited cases cannot be rejected by simple vetoes. Rather than being purely a background concern, these neutrino-like cosmic ray signals also provide validation of the detection pipeline using real impulsive events, complementing simulation-based approaches. The significantly higher cosmic ray flux in the relevant energy range also makes this a practical calibration source. This work presents progress on RNO-G's cosmic ray search in its deep antennas, where the neutrino sensitivity is highest and cosmic ray identification is critical.