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Title: Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy density is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge excess emission components. We found that the spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy – corrected for geometrical effects – is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically withmore » the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. Finally we find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Universitat Siegen (Germany). et al.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Org.:
Pierre Auger Collaboration
OSTI Identifier:
1221348
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1257010
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-15-354-AD-AE-CD-TD
Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010; PRVDAQ; arXiv eprint number arXiv:1508.04267; TRN: US1601620
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; FR02-04ER41300; FG02-99ER41107; SC0011689
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 93; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

Citation Formats

Aab, Alexander. Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122005.
Aab, Alexander. Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122005
Aab, Alexander. 2016. "Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122005. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1221348.
@article{osti_1221348,
title = {Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory},
author = {Aab, Alexander},
abstractNote = {The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy density is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge excess emission components. We found that the spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy – corrected for geometrical effects – is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. Finally we find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.93.122005},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1221348}, journal = {Physical Review D},
issn = {2470-0010},
number = 12,
volume = 93,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, April 2015


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Works referencing / citing this record:

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): Science and design
journal, August 2019


Results and Perspectives of the Auger Engineering Radio Array
journal, January 2017


Simulation of the Radiation Energy Release in Air Showers
journal, January 2017


The mass composition of cosmic rays measured with LOFAR
journal, January 2017


Precision study of radio emission from air showers at LOFAR
journal, January 2017


Radio detection in the multi-messenger context
journal, January 2019


Reconstructing the cosmic-ray energy from the radio signal measured in one single station
journal, October 2019


Radio-wave detection of ultra-high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays
journal, November 2017


Search for PeVatrons at the Galactic Center using a radio air-shower array at the South Pole
journal, February 2018


Enhancing the cosmic-ray mass sensitivity of air-shower arrays by combining radio and muon detectors
journal, April 2019


NuRadioReco: a reconstruction framework for radio neutrino detectors
journal, June 2019


Antarctic Surface Reflectivity Measurements from the ANITA-3 and HiCal-1 Experiments
journal, April 2017


Hybrid Detection of High Energy Showers in Urban Environments
journal, December 2018


Reconstructing the cosmic-ray energy from the radio signal measured in one single station
text, January 2019


Radio detection in the multi-messenger context
text, January 2019


Radio detection in the multi-messenger context
text, January 2018


NuRadioReco: a reconstruction framework for radio neutrino detectors
text, January 2019


Simulation of the Radiation Energy Release in Air Showers
text, January 2017


The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): Science and Design
text, January 2018


NuRadioReco: A reconstruction framework for radio neutrino detectors
text, January 2019