Radio interferometry applied to the observation of cosmic-ray induced extensive air showers

Abstract

We developed a radio interferometric technique for the observation of extensive air showers initiated by cosmic particles. In this proof-of-principle study we show that properties of extensive air showers can be derived with high accuracy in a straightforward manner. When time synchronisation below $\sim$1 ns between different receivers can be achieved, direction reconstruction resolution of $<0.2^{\circ }$ and resolution on the depth of shower maximum of $<10$ g/cm${}^2$ are obtained over the full parameter range studied, with even higher accuracy for inclined incoming directions. In addition, by applying the developed method to dense arrays of radio antennas, the energy threshold for the radio detection of extensive air showers can be significantly lowered. The proposed method can be incorporated in operational and future cosmic particle observatories and with its high accuracy it has the potential to play a crucial role in unravelling the composition of the ultra-high-energy cosmic-particle flux.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures. Added figures/references with respect to v1

References in corpus (22)

• Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Measurements at Energies above 10^17.8 eV
• The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): Science and Design
• Monte Carlo simulations of radio pulses in atmospheric showers using ZHAireS
• Radio detection of Cosmic-Ray Air Showers and High-Energy Neutrinos
• Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era
• A large light-mass component of cosmic rays at 10^{17} - 10^{17.5} eV from radio observations
• Probing the radio emission from air showers with polarization measurements
• Measurement of cosmic-ray air showers with the Tunka Radio Extension (Tunka-Rex)
• Detecting cosmic rays with the LOFAR radio telescope
• Coherent Cherenkov Radiation from Cosmic-Ray-Induced Air Showers
• Measuring a Cherenkov ring in the radio emission from air showers at 110-190 MHz with LOFAR
• Observation of inclined EeV air showers with the radio detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• New method for the time calibration of an interferometric radio antenna array
• The wavefront of the radio signal emitted by cosmic ray air showers
• Radio pulses from ultra-high energy atmospheric showers as the superposition of Askaryan and geomagnetic mechanisms
• Direction identification in radio images of cosmic-ray air showers detected with LOPES and KASCADE
• Self-triggered radio detection and identification of cosmic air showers with the OVRO-LWA
• Ultimate precision in cosmic-ray radio detection --- the SKA
• Simulations of reflected radio signals from cosmic ray induced air showers
• Final results of the LOPES radio interferometer for cosmic-ray air showers
• Timing calibration and spectral cleaning of LOFAR time series data
• Expected performance of air-shower measurements with the radio-interferometric technique

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• Tau Neutrinos in the Next Decade: from GeV to EeV
• Prospects for High-Elevation Radio Detection of >100 PeV Tau Neutrinos
• A high-precision interpolation method for pulsed radio signals from cosmic-ray air showers
• Framework and Tools for the Simulation and Analysis of the Radio Emission from Air Showers at IceCube
• Science with the Global Cosmic-ray Observatory (GCOS)
• Radio wavefront of very inclined extensive air-showers: a simulation study for extended and sparse radio arrays
• A LOFAR-style reconstruction of cosmic-ray air showers with SKA-Low
• Radio Detection of ultra-high-energy Cosmic-Ray Air Showers
• Aperture correction for Beamforming in radiometric detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
• Observational strategies for ultrahigh-energy neutrinos: the importance of deep sensitivity for detection and astronomy