Uncertainties of the 30-408 MHz Galactic emission as a calibration source for radio detectors in astroparticle physics

Abstract

Context. Arrays of radio antennas have proven to be successful in astroparticle physics with the observation of extensive air showers initiated by high-energy cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere. Accurate determination of the energy scale of the primary particles' energies requires an absolute calibration of the radio antennas for which, in recent years, the utilization of the Galactic emission as a reference source has emerged as a potential standard. Aims. To apply the "Galactic Calibration", a proper estimation of the systematic uncertainties on the prediction of the Galactic emission from sky models is necessary, which we aim to determine on a global level as well as for the specific cases of selected radio arrays. We further aim to quantify the influence of the quiet Sun on the Galactic Calibration. Methods. We look at four different sky models that predict the full-sky Galactic emission in the frequency range from 30 to 408 MHz and compare them. We make an inventory of the reference maps on which they rely and use the output of the models to determine their global level of agreement. Next, we take the sky exposures and frequency bands of selected radio arrays into account and repeat the comparison for each of them. Finally, we study the relative influence of the Sun in its quiet state by projecting it onto the sky with brightness data from recent measurements. Results. We find systematic uncertainty of 12% on the predicted power from the Galactic emission, which scales to approximately half of that value as the uncertainty on the determination of the energy of cosmic particles. When looking at the selected radio arrays, the uncertainty on the predicted power varies between 10% and 19%. The influence of the quiet Sun turns out to be insignificant at the lowest frequencies but increases to a relative contribution of ~ 20% around 400 MHz.

16 pages, 7 figures

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