First Experimental Characterization of Microwave Emission from Cosmic Ray Air Showers
Abstract
We report the first direct measurement of the overall characteristics of microwave radio emission from extensive air showers. Using a trigger provided by the KASCADE-Grande air shower array, the signals of the microwave antennas of the CROME (Cosmic-Ray Observation via Microwave Emission) experiment have been read out and searched for signatures of radio emission by high-energy air showers in the GHz frequency range. Microwave signals have been detected for more than 30 showers with energies above 3*10^16 eV. The observations presented in this Letter are consistent with a mainly forward-directed and polarised emission process in the GHz frequency range. The measurements show that microwave radiation offers a new means of studying air showers at energies above 10^17 eV.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.1410.8291,
title = {First Experimental Characterization of Microwave Emission from Cosmic Ray Air Showers},
author = {R. Smida and F. Werner and R. Engel and J. C. Arteaga-Velazquez and K. Bekk and M. Bertaina and J. Bluemer and H. Bozdog and I. M. Brancus and A. Chiavassa and F. Cossavella and F. Di Pierro and P. Doll and B. Fuchs and D. Fuhrmann and C. Grupen and A. Haungs and D. Heck and J. R. Hoerandel and D. Huber and T. Huege and K. -H. Kampert and D. Kang and H. Klages and M. Kleifges and O. Kroemer and K. Link and P. Luczak and M. Ludwig and H. J. Mathes and S. Mathys and H. J. Mayer and M. Melissas and C. Morello and P. Neunteufel and J. Oehlschlaeger and N. Palmieri and J. Pekala and T. Pierog and J. Rautenberg and H. Rebel and M. Riegel and M. Roth and F. Salamida and H. Schieler and S. Schoo and F. G. Schroeder and O. Sima and J. Stasielak and G. Toma and G. C. Trinchero and M. Unger and M. Weber and A. Weindl and H. Wilczynski and M. Will and J. Wochele and J. Zabierowski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1410.8291},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in PRL