Didier Charrier

Radio-detection signature of high-energy cosmic rays by the CODALEMA experiment

Taking advantage of recent technical progress which has overcome some of the difficulties encountered in the 1960’s in the radio detection of extensive air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), a new experimental apparatus (CODALEMA) has been built and operated. We will present the characteristics of this device and the analysis techniques that have been developed for observing electrical transients associated with cosmic rays. We find a collection of events for which both time and arrival direction coincidences between particle and radio signals are observed. The counting rate corresponds to shower energies ≥ 5 × 10 16 eV. The performance level which has been reached considerably enlarges the perspectives for studying UHECR events using radio detection.

Geomagnetic origin of the radio emission from cosmic ray induced air showers observed by CODALEMA

The new setup of the CODALEMA experiment installed at the Radio Observatory in Nancay, France, is described. It includes broadband active dipole antennas and an extended and upgraded particle detector array. The latter gives access to the air shower energy, allowing us to compute the efficiency of the radio array as a function of energy. We also observe a large asymmetry in counting rates between showers coming from the North and the South in spite of the symmetry of the detector. The observed asymmetry can be interpreted as a signature of the geomagnetic origin of the air shower radio emission. A simple linear dependence of the electric field with respect to ∧ is used which reproduces the angular dependencies of the number of radio events and their electric polarity.

Radioelectric Field Features of Extensive Air Showers Observed with CODALEMA

Based on a new approach to the detection of radio transients associated with extensive air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays, the experimental apparatus CODALEMA is in operation, measuring about 1 event per day corresponding to an energy threshold ~ 5. 10^16 eV. Its performance makes possible for the first time the study of radio-signal features on an event-by-event basis. The sampling of the magnitude of the electric field along a 600 meters axis is analyzed. It shows that the electric field lateral spread is around 250 m (FWHM). The possibility to determine with radio both arrival directions and shower core positions is discussed.

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND) is a planned array of ~ 2·105 radio antennas deployed over ~ 200 000 km2 in a mountainous site. It aims primarly at detecting high-energy neutrinos via the observation of extensive air showers induced by the decay in the atmosphere of taus produced by the interaction of cosmic neutrinos under the Earth surface. GRAND aims at reaching a neutrino sensitivity of 5 · 10−11 E −2 GeV−1 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 above 3 · 1016 eV. This ensures the detection of cosmogenic neutrinos in the most pessimistic source models, and ~50 events per year are expected for the standard models. The instrument will also detect UHECRs and possibly FRBs. Here we show how our preliminary design should enable us to reach our sensitivity goals, and discuss the steps to be taken to achieve GRAND, while the compelling science case for GRAND is discussed in more details in [1].

Low frequency observations of cosmic ray air shower radio emission by CODALEMA/EXTASIS

Over the years, significant efforts have been devoted to the understanding of the radio emission of extensive air shower (EAS) in the range [20-200] MHz. Despite some studies led until the early nineties, the [1-10] MHz band has remained unused for 20 years. However, it has been measured by these pioneering experiments and suggested by theoretical calculations that EAS emit a strong electric field in this band and that there is evidence of a large increase in the amplitude of the radio pulse at lower frequencies. The EXTASIS project, located within the radio astronomy observatory of Nancay and supported by the CODALEMA instrument, aims to study the [1-10] MHz band, and especially the so-called Sudden Death contribution, the expected radiation electric field created by the particles that are stopped upon arrival to the ground. We present our instrumental setup, the objectives of the EXTASIS project and our first results.