Simulation of radio emission from air showers in atmospheric electric fields

Buitink, S.; Huege, T.; Falcke, H.; Kuijpers, J.

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.02.010

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…A simulation on the basis of (outdated) REAS2 simulations [150] confirmed that air showers can be influenced significantly by strong electric fields and that also the radio emission can be strongly changed. This means that radio emission from air showers in thunderstorms carries information on the electric fields that they propagated through.…”

Section: Influence Of Thunderstormsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era

2016

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In 1965 it was discovered that cosmic ray air showers emit impulsive radio signals at frequencies below 100 MHz. After a period of intense research in the 1960s and 1970s, however, interest in the detection technique faded almost completely. With the availability of powerful digital signal processing techniques, new attempts at measuring cosmic ray air showers via their radio emission were started at the beginning of the new millennium. Starting with modest, small-scale digital prototype setups, the field has evolved, matured and grown very significantly in the past decade. Today's second-generation digital radio detection experiments consist of up to hundreds of radio antennas or cover areas of up to 17 km$^{2}$. We understand the physics of the radio emission in extensive air showers in detail and have developed analysis strategies to accurately derive from radio signals parameters which are related to the astrophysics of the primary cosmic ray particles, in particular their energy, arrival direction and estimators for their mass. In parallel to these successes, limitations inherent in the physics of the radio signals have also become increasingly clear. In this article, we review the progress of the past decade and the current state of the field, discuss the current paradigm of the radio emission physics and present the experimental evidence supporting it. Finally, we discuss the potential for future applications of the radio detection technique to advance the field of cosmic ray physics.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Report

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Section: Influence Of Thunderstormsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era

2016

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“…Like the geomagnetic field, the atmospheric electric field also accelerates electrons and positrons in opposite directions and induces time-variable transverse currents. During normal weather conditions the atmospheric field is a few 100 V/m and its force is negligible against the geomagnetic Lorentz force [172]. However, during rain the field can be significantly stronger, and during thunderstorms it can exceed several 10 kV/m.…”

Section: Atmospheric Electric Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radio detection of cosmic-ray air showers and high-energy neutrinos

Schröder

2017

Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics

171

129

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In the last fifteen years radio detection made it back to the list of promising techniques for extensive air showers, firstly, due to the installation and successful operation of digital radio experiments and, secondly, due to the quantitative understanding of the radio emission from atmospheric particle cascades. The radio technique has an energy threshold of about 100 PeV, which coincides with the energy at which a transition from the highest-energy galactic sources to the even more energetic extragalactic cosmic rays is assumed. Thus, radio detectors are particularly useful to study the highest-energy galactic particles and ultra-high-energy extragalactic particles of all types. Recent measurements by various antenna arrays like LOPES, CODALEMA, AERA, LOFAR, Tunka-Rex, and others have shown that radio measurements can compete in precision with other established techniques, in particular for the arrival direction, the energy, and the position of the shower maximum, which is one of the best estimators for the composition of the primary cosmic rays. The scientific potential of the radio technique seems to be maximum in combination with particle detectors, because this combination of complementary detectors can significantly increase the total accuracy for air-shower measurements. This increase in accuracy is crucial for a better separation of different primary particles, like gamma-ray photons, neutrinos, or different types of nuclei, because showers initiated by these particles differ in average depth of the shower maximum and in the ratio between the amplitude of the radio signal and the number of muons. In addition to air-shower measurements, the radio technique can be used to measure particle cascades in dense media, which is a promising technique for detection of ultra-high-energy neutrinos. Several pioneering experiments like ARA, ARIANNA, and ANITA are currently searching for the radio emission by neutrino-induced particle cascades in ice. In the next years these two sub-fields of radio detection of cascades in air and in dense media will likely merge, because several future projects aim at the simultaneous detection of both, high-energy cosmic-rays and neutrinos. SKA will search for neutrino and cosmic-ray initiated cascades in the lunar regolith and simultaneously provide unprecedented detail for air-shower measurements. Moreover, detectors with huge exposure like GRAND, SWORD or EVA are being considered to study the highest energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. This review provides an introduction to the physics of radio emission by particle cascades, an overview on the various experiments and their instrumental properties, and a summary of methods for reconstructing the most important air-shower properties from radio measurements. Finally, potential applications of the radio technique in high-energy astroparticle physics are discussed.

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“…First measurements of the radio footprint of extensive air showers, made during periods where there were thunderstorms in the area, so-called thunderstorm conditions, have been reported by the LOPES [21,22] collaboration. It was seen that the amplitude of the radiation was strongly affected by the atmospheric electric fields [23]. More recently detailed measurements of the radio footprint, including its polarization were reported by the LO-FAR [24] collaboration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of atmospheric electric fields on the radio emission from extensive air showers

et al. 2016

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The atmospheric electric fields in thunderclouds have been shown to significantly modify the intensity and polarization patterns of the radio footprint of cosmic-ray-induced extensive air showers. Simulations indicated a very non-linear dependence of the signal strength in the frequency window of 30-80 MHz on the magnitude of the atmospheric electric field. In this work we present an explanation of this dependence based on Monte-Carlo simulations, supported by arguments based on electron dynamics in air showers and expressed in terms of a simplified model. We show that by extending the frequency window to lower frequencies additional sensitivity to the atmospheric electric field is obtained.

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Simulation of radio emission from air showers in atmospheric electric fields

Cited by 17 publications

References 20 publications

Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era

Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era

Radio detection of cosmic-ray air showers and high-energy neutrinos

Influence of atmospheric electric fields on the radio emission from extensive air showers

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