Study of the effect of seismically-induced geoelectric and geomagnetic fields on secondary particle detection at a LAGO site.

Abstract

The LAGO (Latin American Giant Observatory) project is an extended Astroparticle Observatory at global scale. It is mainly oriented to basic research on three branches of Astroparticle physics: the Extreme Universe, Space Weather phenomena, and Atmospheric Radiation at ground level. This work is framed in the latter branch, its aim is to study the potential effects on extensive air showers from changes in geoelectric and geomagnetic fields, induced by the onset of seismic activity. For this purpose, simulations for flux of secondaries are performed with ARTI, a tool developed by LAGO that combines Magnetocosmics, CORSIKA, and Geant4 to account, respectively, for the propagation of a shower by a primary particle, geomagnetic corrections, and detector response. Using ARTI, we have calculated the background radiation at the LAGO Site in Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2200 m.a.s.l). Regular conditions for the Earth’s electromagnetic field are taken from the NCEI Geomagnetic Calculator for specific fair-weathered days above the location. Variations from this regularity are introduced based on relevant studies on seismic activity. The results show that there exists an effect on the number of secondary particles at ground level, which could, in principle, be detected by a LAGO WCD detector.