The MIDAS Experiment: A New Technique for the Detection of Extensive Air Showers
arXiv:1010.2734
Abstract
Recent measurements suggest free electrons created in ultra-high energy cosmic ray extensive air showers (EAS) can interact with neutral air molecules producing Bremsstrahlung radiation in the microwave regime. The microwave radiation produced is expected to scale with the number of free electrons in the shower, which itself is a function of the energy of the primary particle and atmospheric depth. Using these properties a calorimetric measurement of the EAS is possible. This technique is analogous to fluorescence detection with the added benefit of a nearly 100% duty cycle and practically no atmospheric attenuation. The Microwave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) prototype is currently being developed at the University of Chicago. MIDAS consists of a 53 feed receiver operating in the 3.4 to 4.2 GHz band. The camera is deployed on a 4.5 meter parabolic reflector and is instrumented with high speed power detectors and autonomous FPGA trigger electronics. We present the current status of the MIDAS instrument and an outlook for future development.
arXiv commentPresented at the XVI International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2010), Batavia, IL, USA (28 June 2 July 2010). 4 pages, 3 figures
References in corpus (4)
- Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10^18 eV
- Measurement of the Flux of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays from Monocular Observations by the High Resolution Fly's Eye Experiment
- Indications of Proton-Dominated Cosmic Ray Composition above 1.6 EeV
- Observations of Microwave Continuum Emission from Air Shower Plasmas