TAROGE experiment and reconstruction technique for near-horizon impulsive radio signals induced by Ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Chen, Yaocheng

doi:10.22323/1.395.0263

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…We speculate that the discrepancy at these elevation angles arises from the interference of the pulse reflected off the ground (or nearby objects) with the direct signal. Similar effects have been reported in ARIANNA-HCR data, and other TAROGE stations [54,58]. This interference can potentially lead to mis-identification of an upward-going air shower (neutrino or AAE) as a downward cosmic ray (CR), and may, in principle, be resolved in the future by more detailed mapping of ground terrain, and subtracting the reflection response with more drone pulser scan data.…”

Section: Results Of Reconstruction Calibrationsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…The relevant technique and preliminary results are described in ref. [54]. Additionally, the completed flights currently only reached a maximum zenith angle at 89 • , which was due to the requirement that the drone operator behind the station have line of sight toward the drone for control.…”

Section: Results Of Reconstruction Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The system is fully portable with a total weight less than 1.4 kg and can be used by various experiments for cross calibration (e.g. other TAROGE stations [54] and also the proposed IceCube-Gen2 radio array [55]).…”

Section: Calibration With Drone-borne Pulsermentioning

confidence: 99%

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TAROGE-M: radio antenna array on antarctic high mountain for detecting near-horizontal ultra-high energy air showers

Wang

Nam

Chen

et al. 2022

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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The TAROGE-M radio observatory is a self-triggered antenna array on top of the ∼2700 m high Mt. Melbourne in Antarctica, designed to detect impulsive geomagnetic emission from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy (UHE) particles beyond 1017 eV, including cosmic rays, Earth-skimming tau neutrinos, and particularly, the “ANITA anomalous events” (AAE) from near and below the horizon. The six AAE discovered by the ANITA experiment have signal features similar to tau neutrinos but that hypothesis is in tension either with the interaction length predicted by Standard Model or with the flux limits set by other experiments. Their origin remains uncertain, requiring more experimental inputs for clarification. The detection concept of TAROGE-M takes advantage of a high altitude with synoptic view toward the horizon as an efficient signal collector, and the radio quietness as well as strong and near vertical geomagnetic field in Antarctica, enhancing the relative radio signal strength. This approach has a low energy threshold, high duty cycle, and is easy to extend for quickly enlarging statistics. Here we report experimental results from the first TAROGE-M station deployed in January 2020, corresponding to approximately one month of livetime. The station consists of six receiving antennas operating at 180–450 MHz, and can reconstruct source directions of impulsive events with an angular resolution of ∼0.3°, calibrated in situ with a drone-borne pulser system. To demonstrate TAROGE-M's ability to detect UHE air showers, a search for cosmic ray signals in 25.3-days of data together with the detection simulation were conducted, resulting in seven identified candidates. The detected events have a mean reconstructed energy of 0.95-0.31 +0.46 EeV and zenith angles ranging from 25° to 82°, with both distributions agreeing with the simulations, indicating an energy threshold at about 0.3 EeV. The estimated cosmic ray flux at that energy is 1.2-0.9 +0.7 × 10-16 eV-1 km-2 yr-1 sr-1, also consistent with results of other experiments. The TAROGE-M sensitivity to AAEs is approximated by the tau neutrino exposure with simulations, which suggests comparable sensitivity as ANITA's at around 1 EeV energy with a few station-years of operation. These first results verified the station design and performance in a polar and high-altitude environment, and are promising for further discovery of tau neutrinos and AAEs after an extension in the near future.

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Section: Results Of Reconstruction Calibrationsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Results Of Reconstruction Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%