Optimal Radio Window for the Detection of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos off the Moon

Abstract

When high-energy cosmic rays impinge on a dense dielectric medium, radio waves are produced through the Askaryan effect. We show that at wavelengths comparable to the length of the shower produced by an Ultra-High Energy cosmic ray or neutrino, radio signals are an extremely efficient way to detect these particles. Through an example it is shown that this new approach offers, for the first time, the realistic possibility of measuring UHE neutrino fluxes below the Waxman-Bahcall limit. It is shown that in only one month of observing with the upcoming LOFAR radio telescope, cosmic-ray events can be measured beyond the GZK-limit, at a sensitivity level of two orders of magnitude below the extrapolated values.

Submitted to Astroparticle Physics

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Cited by in corpus (37)

• Science with ASKAP - the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
• Science with a lunar low-frequency array: from the dark ages of the Universe to nearby exoplanets
• Cherenkov radio pulses from electromagnetic showers in the time-domain
• A Roadmap towards a Space-based Radio Telescope for Ultra-Low Frequency Radio Astronomy
• LUNASKA experiments using the Australia Telescope Compact Array to search for ultra-high energy neutrinos and develop technology for the lunar Cherenkov technique
• Practical and accurate calculations of Askaryan radiation
• Prospects for the direct detection of the cosmic neutrino background
• Improved flux limits for neutrinos with energies above 10${}^{22}$ eV from observations with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
• UHE neutrino searches using a Lunar target: First Results from the RESUN search
• Extremely High Energy Neutrinos from Cosmic Strings
• Coherent Cherenkov radio pulses from hadronic showers up to EeV energies
• Constraints on the flux of Ultra-High Energy neutrinos from WSRT observations
• The sensitivity of the next generation of lunar Cherenkov observations to UHE neutrinos and cosmic rays
• Radio astronomy with the Lunar Lander: opening up the last unexplored frequency regime
• Surveying the Dynamic Radio Sky with the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array
• Limit on UHE Neutrino Flux from the Parkes Lunar Radio Cherenkov Experiment
• A new limit on the Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray flux with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
• Cosmic Strings as Emitters of Extremely High Energy Neutrinos
• The sensitivity of past and near-future lunar radio experiments to ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos
• Calculations of electric fields for radio detection of Ultra-High Energy particles
• Prospects for Lunar Satellite Detection of Radio Pulses from Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos Interacting with the Moon
• Optimized Trigger for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray and Neutrino Observations with the Low Frequency Radio Array
• Analytic Aperture Calculation and Scaling Laws for Radio Detection of Lunar-Target UHE Neutrinos
• The Directional Dependence of Apertures, Limits and Sensitivity of the Lunar Cherenkov Technique to a UHE Neutrino Flux
• A limit on the ultra-high-energy neutrino flux from lunar observations with the Parkes radio telescope
• A very brief description of LOFAR - the Low Frequency Array
• Ultra High Energy Neutrinos: Absorption, Thermal Effects and Signatures
• Detection of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos with Lunar Orbital Radio Telescope
• Prospects of Probing the Radio Emission of Lunar UHECRv Events
• Determining neutrino absorption spectra at Ultra-High Energies
• Search for Cosmic Particles with the Moon and LOFAR
• The Directional Dependence of the Lunar Cherenkov Technique for UHE Neutrino Detection
• Realtime processing of LOFAR data for the detection of nano-second pulses from the Moon
• Probing the variation of relic neutrino masses with extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos
• Prospects for GMRT to Observe Radio Waves from UHE Particles Interacting with the Moon
• Gamma rays as leptonic portals to energetic neutrinos: a new Monte Carlo approach
• Status of the Lunar Detection Mode for Cosmic Particles of LOFAR