An Estimate of the Spectral Intensity Expected from the Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation in Extensive Air Showers
arXiv:1409.5051 · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2015.01.004
Abstract
A detection technique of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, complementary to the fluorescence technique, would be the use of the molecular Bremsstrahlung radiation emitted by low-energy electrons left after the passage of the showers in the atmosphere. The emission mechanism is expected from quasi-elastic collisions of electrons produced in the shower by the ionisation of the molecules in the atmosphere. In this article, a detailed calculation of the spectral intensity of photons at ground level originating from the transitions between unquantised energy states of free ionisation electrons is presented. In the absence of absorption of the emitted photons in the plasma, the obtained spectral intensity is shown to be 5 10^{-26} W m^{-2}Hz^{-1} at 10 km from the shower core for a vertical shower induced by a proton of 10^{17.5} eV.
arXiv comment16 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Astroparticle Physics. Compared to v1 version: 1. Inclusion of ro-vibrational processes. 2. Use of more accurate ionization potential values and energy distribution of the secondary electrons
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Cited by in corpus (8)
- Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era
- Feasibility of radar detection of extensive air showers
- Radiowave Detection of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays
- Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation at GHz Frequencies in Air
- The Small Contribution of Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation to the Air-Fluorescence Yield of Cosmic Ray Shower Particles
- GIGAS: a set of microwave sensor arrays to detect molecular bremsstrahlung radiation from extensive air shower
- Coherent Suppression of Molecular Bremsstrahlung Radiation at GHz Frequencies in the Ionization Trail of Extensive Air Showers
- The AMY (Air Microwave Yield) experiment to measure the GHz emission from air shower plasma