Sensitivity of lunar particle-detection experiments

Bray, J. D.

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201713504002

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“…3 This 'raw' sensitivity however tends to be limited by the sensitivity that can be brought to bear for online triggering, the details of which depend on the exact experimental setup. Such effects include self-vetoing due to strong signals exceeding noise-veto criteria, imperfect coverage of the lunar disk by the trigger beams, approximate dedispersion, artefacts of (analogue or digital) signal-processing, and non-optimal search algorithms -see [14,24,25,28] for further details. Only the self-veto and lunar coverage effects are reproduced here.…”

Section: Simulating the Sensitivity Of The Skamentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of lunar detection of ultra-high energy particles and new plans for the SKA

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The lunar technique is a method for maximising the collection area for ultrahigh-energy (UHE) cosmic ray and neutrino searches. The method uses either groundbased radio telescopes or lunar orbiters to search for Askaryan emission from particles cascading near the lunar surface. While experiments using the technique have made important advances in the detection of nanosecond-scale pulses, only at the very highest energies has the lunar technique achieved competitive limits. This is expected to change with the advent of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the low-frequency component of which (SKA-low) is predicted to be able to detect an unprecedented number of UHE cosmic rays. In this contribution, the status of lunar particle detection is reviewed, with particular attention paid to outstanding theoretical questions, and the technical challenges of using a giant radio array to search for nanosecond pulses. The activities of SKA's High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group are described, as is a roadmap by which this group plans to incorporate this detection mode into SKA-low observations. Estimates for the sensitivity of SKA-low phases 1 and 2 to UHE particles are given, along with the achievable science goals with each stage. Prospects for near-future observations with other instruments are also described.

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