The TAROGE-M radio observatory is a self-triggered antenna array on top of the ∼2700 m high Mt. Melbourne in Antarctica, designed to detect impulsive geomagnetic emission from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy (UHE) particles beyond 1017 eV, including cosmic rays, Earth-skimming tau neutrinos, and particularly, the “ANITA anomalous events” (AAE) from near and below the horizon. The six AAE discovered by the ANITA experiment have signal features similar to tau neutrinos but that hypothesis is in tension either with the interaction length predicted by Standard Model or with the flux limits set by other experiments. Their origin remains uncertain, requiring more experimental inputs for clarification. The detection concept of TAROGE-M takes advantage of a high altitude with synoptic view toward the horizon as an efficient signal collector, and the radio quietness as well as strong and near vertical geomagnetic field in Antarctica, enhancing the relative radio signal strength. This approach has a low energy threshold, high duty cycle, and is easy to extend for quickly enlarging statistics. Here we report experimental results from the first TAROGE-M station deployed in January 2020, corresponding to approximately one month of livetime. The station consists of six receiving antennas operating at 180–450 MHz, and can reconstruct source directions of impulsive events with an angular resolution of ∼0.3°, calibrated in situ with a drone-borne pulser system. To demonstrate TAROGE-M's ability to detect UHE air showers, a search for cosmic ray signals in 25.3-days of data together with the detection simulation were conducted, resulting in seven identified candidates. The detected events have a mean reconstructed energy of 0.95-0.31 +0.46 EeV and zenith angles ranging from 25° to 82°, with both distributions agreeing with the simulations, indicating an energy threshold at about 0.3 EeV. The estimated cosmic ray flux at that energy is 1.2-0.9 +0.7 × 10-16 eV-1 km-2 yr-1 sr-1, also consistent with results of other experiments. The TAROGE-M sensitivity to AAEs is approximated by the tau neutrino exposure with simulations, which suggests comparable sensitivity as ANITA's at around 1 EeV energy with a few station-years of operation. These first results verified the station design and performance in a polar and high-altitude environment, and are promising for further discovery of tau neutrinos and AAEs after an extension in the near future.

In December 2015, we have installed neutron monitor at the Jang Bogo station in Antarctica. The Jang Bogo station is the second science station which is located at the coast (74° 37.4’S, 164° 13.7’E) of Terra Nova Bay in Northern Victoria Land of Antarctica. A neutron monitor is an instrument to detect neutrons from secondary cosmic rays collided by the atmosphere. The installation of neutron monitor at Jang Bogo station is a part of transferred mission for neutron monitor at McMurdo station of USA. Among 18 tubes of 18-NM64 neutron monitor, we have completed relocation of 6 tubes and the rest will be transferred in December 2017. Currently, comparison of data from both neutron monitors is under way and there is a good agreement between the data. The neutron monitor at Jang Bogo station will be quite useful to study the space weather when the installation is completed.

Using neutron time-delay data from neutron monitors (NMs), we can extract the leader fraction, , of neutron counts that do not follow a previous neutron count in the same counter tube due to the cosmic ray shower.is the inverse of the neutron multiplicity and serves as a proxy of the cosmic ray spectral index over the rigidity range of the NM response function. We have outfitted several Antarctic NMs with special electronics to collect neutron time delay distributions.

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Cosmic rays are ions that move at relativistic speeds. They generate secondary cosmic rays by successive collisions with atmospheric particles, and then, the secondary particles reach the ground. The secondary particles are mainly neutrons and muons, and the neutrons are observed by the ground neutron monitor. This study compared the diurnal variation in cosmic ray intensity obtained via harmonic analysis and that obtained through the pile-up method, which was examined in a previous study. In addition, we analyzed the maximum phase of the diurnal variation using four neutron monitors with a cutoff rigidity below approximately 6 GV, located at similar longitudes to the Oulu and Rome neutron monitors. Expanding the data of solar cycles 20–24, we examined the time of the maximum cosmic ray intensity, that is, the maximum phase regarding the solar cyclic modulation. During solar cycles 20–24, the maximum phase derived by harmonic analysis showed no significant difference with that derived by the pile-up method. Thus, the pile-up method, a relatively straightforward process to analyze diurnal variation, could replace the complex harmonic analysis. In addition, the maximum phase at six neutron monitors shows the 22-year cyclic variation very clearly. The maximum phase tends to appear earlier and increase the width of the variation in solar cycles as the cutoff rigidity increases.