First constraints on the ultra-high energy neutrino flux from a prototype station of the Askaryan Radio Array

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) is an ultra-high energy (>1017 eV) cosmic neutrino detector in phased construction near the south pole. ARA searches for radio Cherenkov emission from particle cascades induced by neutrino interactions in the ice using radio frequency antennas (∼150-800 MHz) deployed at a design depth of 200 m in the Antarctic ice. A prototype ARA Testbed station was deployed at ∼30 m depth in the 2010-2011 season and the first three full ARA stations were deployed in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons. We present the first neutrino search with ARA using data taken in 2011 and 2012 with the ARA Testbed and the resulting constraints on the neutrino flux from 1017-1021 eV.