Probing the radio emission from air showers with polarization measurements

Abstract

The emission of radio waves from air showers has been attributed to the so-called geomagnetic emission process. At frequencies around 50 MHz this process leads to coherent radiation which can be observed with rather simple setups. The direction of the electric field induced by this emission process depends only on the local magnetic field vector and on the incoming direction of the air shower. We report on measurements of the electric field vector where, in addition to this geomagnetic component, another component has been observed which cannot be described by the geomagnetic emission process. The data provide strong evidence that the other electric field component is polarized radially with respect to the shower axis, in agreement with predictions made by Askaryan who described radio emission from particle showers due to a negative charge-excess in the front of the shower. Our results are compared to calculations which include the radiation mechanism induced by this charge-excess process.

Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D; 50 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Antennas for the Detection of Radio Emission Pulses from Cosmic-Ray induced Air Showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Radioelectric Field Features of Extensive Air Showers Observed with CODALEMA
• REAS3: Monte Carlo simulations of radio emission from cosmic ray air showers using an "end-point" formalism
• The Lateral Distribution Function of Coherent Radio Emission from Extensive Air Showers; Determining the Chemical Composition of Cosmic Rays
• Detection of elusive Radio and Optical emission from Cosmic-ray showers in the 1960s

Cited by in corpus (66)

• The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
• IceCube-Gen2: The Window to the Extreme Universe
• Radio detection of Cosmic-Ray Air Showers and High-Energy Neutrinos
• Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era
• A method for high precision reconstruction of air shower Xmax using two-dimensional radio intensity profiles
• Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy
• Measurement of cosmic-ray air showers with the Tunka Radio Extension (Tunka-Rex)
• Design and Sensitivity of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G)
• Radio detection of air showers with the ARIANNA experiment on the Ross Ice Shelf
• The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO): A White Paper
• Energy and Flux Measurements of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Observed During the First ANITA Flight
• Polarized radio emission from extensive air showers measured with LOFAR
• Simulation of Radiation Energy Release in Air Showers
• Constraints on the Diffuse Flux of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos from Four Years of Askaryan Radio Array Data in Two Stations
• NuRadioReco: A reconstruction framework for radio neutrino detectors
• Targeting ultra-high energy neutrinos with the ARIANNA experiment
• Radio measurements of the energy and the depth of the shower maximum of cosmic-ray air showers by Tunka-Rex
• Reconstruction of air-shower parameters for large-scale radio detectors using the lateral distribution
• Calibrating the absolute amplitude scale for air showers measured at LOFAR
• Probing Atmospheric Electric Fields in Thunderstorms through Radio Emission from Cosmic-Ray-Induced Air Showers
• Accelerator measurements of magnetically-induced radio emission from particle cascades with applications to cosmic-ray air showers
• The radio emission pattern of air showers as measured with LOFAR - a tool for the reconstruction of the energy and the shower maximum
• The wavefront of the radio signal emitted by cosmic ray air showers
• Measurement of the circular polarization in radio emission from extensive air showers confirms emission mechanisms
• Observation of Radar Echoes From High-Energy Particle Cascades
• Reconstructing the neutrino energy for in-ice radio detectors
• Calibration of the Logarithmic-Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) Radio Stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an Octocopter
• The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection
• The cosmic-ray air-shower signal in Askaryan radio detectors
• Autonomous radiodetection of air showers with the TREND50 antenna array
• Radio pulses from ultra-high energy atmospheric showers as the superposition of Askaryan and geomagnetic mechanisms
• A low-threshold ultrahigh-energy neutrino search with the Askaryan Radio Array
• Radio interferometry applied to the observation of cosmic-ray induced extensive air showers
• Influence of Atmospheric Electric Fields on the Radio Emission from Extensive Air Showers
• Radio Morphing: towards a fast computation of the radio signal from air showers
• Final results of the LOPES radio interferometer for cosmic-ray air showers
• The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection
• The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): Present and Perspectives
• Simulation of the Radiation Energy Release in Air Showers
• Radio Detection of High Energy Neutrinos in Ice
• Radiowave Detection of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays
• Near-future discovery of point sources of ultra-high-energy neutrinos
• Radio detection of high-energy cosmic rays with the Auger Engineering Radio Array (PISA 2015)
• Calculations of low-frequency radio emission by cosmic ray-induced particle showers
• Measuring the Polarization Reconstruction Resolution of the ARIANNA Neutrino Detector with Cosmic Rays
• Science with the Global Cosmic-ray Observatory (GCOS)
• Density and magnetic intensity dependence of radio pulses induced by energetic air showers
• Polarisation signatures in radio for inclined cosmic-ray induced air-shower identification
• Observation of In-ice Askaryan Radiation from High-Energy Cosmic Rays
• Towards a cosmic-ray mass-composition study at Tunka Radio Extension (ARENA 2016)
• Latest results of the Tunka Radio Extension (ISVHECRI2016)
• Performance of the RF-detectors of the Astroneu Array
• Radio Emission from Atmosphere-Skimming Cosmic Ray Showers in High-Altitude Balloon-Borne Experiments
• First results from the FPGA/NIOS Adaptive FIR Filter Using Linear Prediction Implemented in the AERA Radio Stations to Reduce Narrow Band RFI for Radio Detection of Cosmic Rays
• The Auger Engineering Radio Array and multi-hybrid cosmic ray detection (TAUP 2015)
• Radio detection of air showers with LOFAR and AERA
• A Probabilistic Model for the Efficiency of Cosmic-Ray Radio Arrays
• GIGAS: a set of microwave sensor arrays to detect molecular bremsstrahlung radiation from extensive air shower
• Tunka-Rex: the Cost-Effective Radio Extension of the Tunka Air-Shower Observatory
• Status of air-shower measurements with sparse radio arrays (ARENA 2016)
• Uncertainties in the Estimation of Air Shower Observables from Monte Carlo Simulation of Radio Emission
• Parametrization of the Relative Amplitude of Geomagnetic and Askaryan Radio Emission from Cosmic-Ray Air Showers using CORSIKA/CoREAS Simulations (ICRC2021)
• Air Shower Detection by Arrays of Radio Antennas (ISVHECRI 2018)
• An Introduction to Single-Antenna Radio Astronomical Polarimetry
• Macroscopic approach to the radar echo scatter from high-energy particle cascades