IceAct: Low energy extension for cosmic ray measurements at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The IceAct telescopes are prototype Imaging Air Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) situated at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the geographic South Pole. Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes are capable of measuring the electromagnetic component of an air shower by detecting the Cherenkov light emitted within the atmosphere. This gives IceAct the opportunity to complement the air showers detection of the electromagnetic footprint measured by the surface array, IceTop, and the high energy muonic component measured by the in-ice detector, IceCube. Since January 2019, two prototype IceAct telescopes with 61 SiPM pixels apiece are taking data during the austral winter. These two telescopes provide the opportunity to study detector performance of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes in the harsh conditions at the South Pole, and to study hybrid events with the existing detector components. Therefore different machine learning algorithms like graph neural networks and random forest trees are used to reconstruct the air shower properties. We will present the current status and the future plans for the IceAct telescopes at the South Pole.