The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Abstract

We present the design, implementation and data taking performance of the MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) experiment, a large field of view imaging telescope designed to detect microwave radiation from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This novel technique may bring a tenfold increase in detector duty cycle when compared to the standard fluorescence technique based on detection of ultraviolet photons. The MIDAS telescope consists of a 4.5 m diameter dish with a 53-pixel receiver camera, instrumented with feed horns operating in the commercial extended C-Band (3.4 -- 4.2 GHz). A self-trigger capability is implemented in the digital electronics. The main objectives of this first prototype of the MIDAS telescope - to validate the telescope design, and to demonstrate a large detector duty cycle - were successfully accomplished in a dedicated data taking run at the University of Chicago campus prior to installation at the Pierre Auger Observatory.

13 pages, 18 figures

References in corpus (4)

• New air fluorescence detectors employed in the Telescope Array experiment
• Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays
• Observations of Microwave Continuum Emission from Air Shower Plasmas
• Search for microwave emission from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
• Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory
• First Experimental Characterization of Microwave Emission from Cosmic Ray Air Showers
• Feasibility of radar detection of extensive air showers
• An Estimate of the Spectral Intensity Expected from the Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation in Extensive Air Showers
• Experimental study of the microwave emission from electrons in air
• Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation at GHz Frequencies in Air
• GIGAS: a set of microwave sensor arrays to detect molecular bremsstrahlung radiation from extensive air shower