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

W.D. Apel, J.C. Arteaga-Velázquez, L. Bähren, K. Bekk, M. Bertaina, P.L. Biermann, J. Blümer, H. Bozdog, I.M. Brancus, E. Cantoni, A. Chiavassa, K. Daumiller (+44 others)
2014 Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics  

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2014 accepted
arXiv:1404.3283v2 fatcat:aptk4jnhs5fihfawljjd3inhue
2014 pre-print
arXiv:1404.3283v1 fatcat:bqjyi7vqivgrzkpjtktdypktxa
Analyzing measurements of the LOPES antenna array together with corresponding CoREAS simulations for more than 300 measured events with energy above 10^17 eV and zenith angles smaller than 45^∘, we find that the radio wavefront of cosmic-ray air showers is of approximately hyperbolic shape. The simulations predict a slightly steeper wavefront towards East than towards West, but this asymmetry is negligible against the measurement uncertainties of LOPES. At axis distances ≳ 50 m, the wavefront
more » ... n be approximated by a simple cone. According to the simulations, the cone angle is clearly correlated with the shower maximum. Thus, we confirm earlier predictions that arrival time measurements can be used to study the longitudinal shower development, but now using a realistic wavefront. Moreover, we show that the hyperbolic wavefront is compatible with our measurement, and we present several experimental indications that the cone angle is indeed sensitive to the shower development. Consequently, the wavefront can be used to statistically study the primary composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. At LOPES, the experimentally achieved precision for the shower maximum is limited by measurement uncertainties to approximately 140 g/cm^2. But the simulations indicate that under better conditions this method might yield an accuracy for the atmospheric depth of the shower maximum, X_max, better than 30 g/cm^2. This would be competitive with the established air-fluorescence and air-Cherenkov techniques, where the radio technique offers the advantage of a significantly higher duty-cycle. Finally, the hyperbolic wavefront can be used to reconstruct the shower geometry more accurately, which potentially allows a better reconstruction of all other shower parameters, too.
doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/09/025 fatcat:jtqjyklcfzcclh2tf6infeceya
Open Access Multiple Versions
Citation

W.D. Apel, J.C. Arteaga-Velázquez, L. Bähren, K. Bekk, M. Bertaina, P.L. Biermann, J. Blümer, H. Bozdog, I.M. Brancus, E. Cantoni, A. Chiavassa, K. Daumiller, V. de Souza, F. Di Pierro, P. Doll, R. Engel, H. Falcke, B. Fuchs, H. Gemmeke, C. Grupen, A. Haungs, D. Heck, J.R. Hörandel, A. Horneffer, D. Huber, T. Huege, P.G. Isar, K.-H. Kampert, D. Kang, O. Krömer, J. Kuijpers, K. Link, P. Łuczak, M. Ludwig, H.J. Mathes, M. Melissas, C. Morello, J. Oehlschläger, N. Palmieri, T. Pierog, J. Rautenberg, H. Rebel, M. Roth, C. Rühle, A. Saftoiu, H. Schieler, A. Schmidt, S. Schoo, F.G. Schröder, O. Sima, G. Toma, G.C. Trinchero, A. Weindl, J. Wochele, J. Zabierowski, J.A. Zensus. "The wavefront of the radio signal emitted by cosmic ray air showers." Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2014.09 (2014) 025-025