We introduce a new macroscopic model to simulate in-ice radar detection of high-energy particle
cascades in dense media. High energy cosmic ray showers impacting a high altitude ice sheet, or
cosmic neutrinos interacting in the ice produce a high-energy particle cascade, which leaves a
short-lived plasma trail composed of ionized ice electrons. Unlike direct radio detection methods,
the RET experiment aims to use radar technique to detect the particle cascade via the reflection
of radio waves off this plasma.


The new semi-analytical description presented in this work is based on well-known parametrizations of the cascade’s charge distribution and uses first-principles derivations for the estimated
radar cross section of a full cascade scatter. The model includes all the known relevant physics
that will affect the radar signal, such as the free charge collisional damping, electron lifetime, and
relativistic effects due to the cascade propagation.