T. Huege

Simulating radio emission from air showers with CoREAS

CoREAS is a Monte Carlo code for the simulation of radio emission from extensive air showers. It implements the endpoint formalism for the calculation of electromagnetic radiation directly in CORSIKA. As such, it is parameter-free, makes no assumptions on the emission mechanism for the radio signals, and takes into account the complete complexity of the electron and positron distributions as simulated by CORSIKA. In this article, we illustrate the capabilities of CoREAS with simulations carried out in different frequency ranges from tens of MHz up to GHz frequencies, and describe in particular the emission characteristics at high frequencies due to Cherenkov effects arising from the varying refractive index of the atmosphere.

Method for high precision reconstruction of air shower Xmax using two-dimensional radio intensity profiles

The mass composition of cosmic rays contains important clues about their origin. Accurate measurements are needed to resolve longstanding issues such as the transition from Galactic to extra-Galact ...

REAS3: Monte Carlo simulations of radio emission from cosmic ray air showers using an 'end-point' formalism

Abstract In recent years, the freely available Monte Carlo code REAS for modelling radio emission from cosmic ray air showers has evolved to include the full complexity of air shower physics. However, it turned out that in REAS2 and all other time-domain models which calculate the radio emission by superposing the radiation of the single air shower electrons and positrons, the calculation of the emission contributions was not fully consistent. In this article, we present a revised implementation in REAS3, which incorporates the missing radio emission due to the variation of the number of charged particles during the air shower evolution using an “end-point formalism”. With the inclusion of these emission contributions, the structure of the simulated radio pulses changes from unipolar to bipolar, and the azimuthal emission pattern becomes nearly symmetric. Remaining asymmetries can be explained by radio emission due to the variation of the net charge excess in air showers, which is automatically taken into account in the new implementation. REAS3 constitutes the first self-consistent time-domain implementation based on single particle emission taking the full complexity of air shower physics into account, and is freely available for all interested users.

Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era

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. Todays second-generation digital radio detection experiments consist of up to hundreds of radio antennas or cover areas of up to 17 km

New method for the time calibration of an interferometric radio antenna array

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A parameterization for the radio emission of air showers as predicted by CoREAS simulations and applied to LOFAR measurements

. 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.

Measurement of cosmic-ray air showers with the Tunka Radio Extension (Tunka-Rex)

Digital radio antenna arrays, like LOPES (LOFAR PrototypE Station), detect high-energy cosmic rays via the radio emission from atmospheric extensive air showers. LOPES is an array of dipole antennas placed within and triggered by the KASCADE-Grande experiment on site of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. The antennas are digitally combined to build a radio interferometer by forming a beam into the air shower arrival direction which allows measurements even at low signal-to-noise ratios in individual antennas. This technique requires a precise time calibration. A combination of several calibration steps is used to achieve the necessary timing accuracy of about 1 ns. The group delays of the setup are measured, the frequency dependence of these delays (dispersion) is corrected in the subsequent data analysis, and variations of the delays with time are monitored. We use a transmitting reference antenna, a beacon, which continuously emits sine waves at known frequencies. Variations of the relative delays between the antennas can be detected and corrected for at each recorded event by measuring the phases at the beacon frequencies.

Radio measurements of the energy and the depth of the shower maximum of cosmic-ray air showers by Tunka-Rex

Abstract Measuring radio emission from air showers provides excellent opportunities to directly measure all air shower properties, including the shower development. To exploit this in large-scale experiments, a simple and analytic parameterization of the distribution of the radio signal at ground level is needed. Data taken with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) show a complex two-dimensional pattern of pulse powers, which is sensitive to the shower geometry. Earlier parameterizations of the lateral signal distribution have proven insufficient to describe these data. In this article, we present a parameterization derived from air-shower simulations. We are able to fit the two-dimensional distribution with a double Gaussian, requiring five fit parameters. All parameters show strong correlations with air shower properties, such as the energy of the shower, the arrival direction, and the shower maximum. We successfully apply the parameterization to data taken with LOFAR and discuss implications for air shower experiments.

Calibrating the absolute amplitude scale for air showers measured at LOFAR

Abstract Tunka-Rex is a radio detector for cosmic-ray air showers in Siberia, triggered by Tunka-133, a co-located air-Cherenkov detector. The main goal of Tunka-Rex is the cross-calibration of the two detectors by measuring the air-Cherenkov light and the radio signal emitted by the same air showers. This way we can explore the precision of the radio-detection technique, especially for the reconstruction of the primary energy and the depth of the shower maximum. The latter is sensitive to the mass of the primary cosmic-ray particles. In this paper we describe the detector setup and explain how electronics and antennas have been calibrated. The analysis of data of the first season proves the detection of cosmic-ray air showers and therefore, the functionality of the detector. We confirm the expected dependence of the detection threshold on the geomagnetic angle and the correlation between the energy of the primary cosmic-ray particle and the radio amplitude. Furthermore, we compare reconstructed amplitudes of radio pulses with predictions from CoREAS simulations, finding agreement within the uncertainties.

The wavefront of the radio signal emitted by cosmic ray air showers

We reconstructed the energy and the position of the shower maximum of air showers with energies E & 100PeV applying a method using radio measurements performed with Tunka-Rex. An event-to-event comparison to air-Cherenkov measurements of the same air showers with the Tunka-133 photomultiplier array confirms that the radio reconstruction works reliably. The Tunka-Rex reconstruction methods and absolute scales have been tuned on CoREAS simulations and yield energy and Xmax values consistent with the Tunka-133 measurements. The results of two independent measurement seasons agree within statistical uncertainties, which gives additional confidence in the radio reconstruction. The energy precision of Tunka-Rex is comparable to the Tunka-133 precision of 15 %, and exhibits a 20% uncertainty on the absolute scale dominated by the amplitude calibration of the antennas. For Xmax, this is the first direct experimental correlation of radio measurements with a different, established method. At the moment, the Xmax resolution of Tunka-Rex is approximately 40 g/cm2. This resolution can probably be improved by deploying additional antennas and by further development of the reconstruction methods, since the present analysis does not yet reveal any principle limitations.