Coherent Cherenkov radiation from cosmic-ray-induced air showers

Very energetic cosmic rays entering the atmosphere of Earth will create a plasma cloud moving with almost the speed of light. The magnetic field of Earth induces an electric current in this cloud which is responsible for the emission of coherent electromagnetic radiation. We propose to search for a new effect: Because of the index of refraction of air, this radiation is collimated in a Cherenkov cone. To express the difference from usual Cherenkov radiation, i.e., the emission from a fast-moving electric charge, we call this magnetically induced Cherenkov radiation. We indicate its signature and possible experimental verification.     

Reestimation of the energy of extensive air showers at the Yakutsk EAS array with the CORSIKA package

The responses of ground and underground muon scintillation detectors of the Yakutsk extensive air shower (EAS) array from primary particles with the energy E ₀ ≥ 10¹⁷ eV have been calculated within the QGSJET-01-d, QGSJET-II-04, SIBILL, and EPOS-LHC models with the CORSIKA package. A new estimate obtained for E ₀ is lower by a factor of about 1.41 than that previously obtained within the calorimetric method for EASs.     

Neutrons in extensive air showers

The main properties of the so-called neutron bursts produced by the passage of extensive air showers (EASs) through a detector array and the properties of these EASs are considered using the experiments that are being or have been carried out previously with the Carpet-2 array at Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, and at Cosmic-Ray Station of UNAM in Mexico as examples. We show that no exotic processes are required to explain the nature of neutron bursts. Based on a working prototype of the previously proposed MULTICOM array, we also show that this phenomenon can be successfully used in studying the EAS hadronic component and that adding special thermal neutron detectors can improve significantly the capabilities of the array for EAS study.     

Neutrons in extensive air showers

The first results of measurements of the thermal-neutron flux in extensive air showers (EASs) using an unshielded scintillation thermal-neutron detector in the Multicom prototype array at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research are reported. The operating capacity of the new method for studying the EAS hadron component via detection of thermal neutrons and good prospects of this method are demonstrated.     

Networks in extensive air showers

Extensive air showers are produced when high energy cosmic rays or γ$\gamma$-rays enter from the top of the atmosphere. Extensive air showers are multi-fractal in nature and in this paper we explore the topological properties of these showers. We show that the topology of extensive air showers has an exponential distribution which may arise due to the inherent tree structure character of its passage in the atmosphere.     

Macroscopic model of radio emission from extensive air showers

A macroscopic model of radio emission from extensive air showers is developed. This model is appropriate for calculating this radio emission at frequencies below 100 MHz. It is constructed on the basis of an analysis of the radiation integral and is verified by comparing field observables predicted by the model with the respective results obtained within the microscopic approach to calculating radio emission from extensive air showers.     

Delayed muons in extensive air showers and double-front showers

The results of a long-term experiment performed in the period between 1995 and 2006 with the aid of the MUON-T underground (20 mwe) scintillation facility arranged at the Tien Shan mountain research station at an altitude of 3340 m above sea level are presented. The time distribution of delayed muons with an energy in excess of 5 GeV in extensive air showers of energy not lower than 106 GeV with respect to the shower front was obtained with a high statistical significance in the delay interval between 30 and 150 ns. An effect of the geomagnetic field in detecting delayed muons in extensive air showers was discovered. This effect leads to the asymmetry of their appearance with respect to the north-south direction. The connection between delayed muons and extensive air showers featuring two fronts separated by a time interval of several tens of to two hundred nanoseconds is discussed. This connection gives sufficient grounds to assume that delayed muons originate from the decays of pions and kaons produced in the second, delayed, front of extensive air showers.     

Observation of double extensive air showers

Double extensive air showers were studied at the Tien Shan high-mountain scientific station of the Lebedev Physical Institute using two different installations. One measured the electron-photon shower component, the other measured Cherenkov radiation. Double showers separated by a time interval of ～100 ns were detected by both setups. The frequency of the occurrence of such showers in each setup is analyzed. It is shown that these frequencies are identical when observing vertical showers (the zenith angle ? < 60°).     

Simulations of radio emission from ultrahigh-energy extensive air showers

The radio emission from extensive air showers with energies up to 10¹⁷ eV has been calculated. The calculated lateral distribution of the radio emission is in good agreement with the LOPES-10 experimental data.     

Neutron multiplicity: Local hadronic showers and extensive air showers

A detailed analysis of events with neutron multiplicity M = 3−30 on neutron monitors (NMs) in Barentsburg (Spitsbergen), Baksan (North Caucasus), and Apatity (Murmansk region) is performed on the data obtained using a unique new data collection system. It is now possible for the first time to register local showers in cosmic rays on NMs and to investigate their structure with a high precision. Multiplicity on NMs is simulated using the GEANT4 Monte Carlo toolkit. Local hadronic cascades in the atmosphere with transverse sizes of 1 to 6 m were observed for the first time using the NM data. NM multiplicity generated by EAS hadronic cascades is studied on the data set on coupling NMs with the CARPET EAS facility.     

Detection and analysis of radio pulses from extensive air showers

Radio pulses from extensive air showers (EAS) at 30, 44, and 60 MHz frequencies have been studied, using wide band broad-side arrays of half-wave dipole antenna systems. The experimental results support the theoretical prediction that the field strength of radio emission depends on the shower size. An asymmetry has been noticed in the pulse height distributions of radio pulses detected by North-South and East-West directed arrays. These observations are in agreement with the theory that the charge separation mechanism is predominant in generating radio pulses from EAS and radio emission is polarised in the East-West direction. Experimental data are compared with those of earlier workers.     

Spatial distribution of Čerenkov light from extensive air showers

The spatial distribution function of Čerenkov radiation from particles of extensive air showers with energies in the interval 10¹²–10¹⁷ eV calculated by the computer code CORSIKA and the approximation constructed on the basis of this calculation have allowed us to reconstruct the events, that is, to reconstruct the type and energy of the particle that generated extensive air shower from signal amplitudes of Čerenkov light registered with the Tunka-25 facility. The calculated spatial distribution function of Čerenkov light is in good agreement with the fitting function constructed in [1–4] to reconstruct the parameters of extensive air showers registered with the Tunka-25 facility. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 43–48, July, 2006.     

On the angular distribution of extensive air showers

Angular distributions of extensive air showers with different number of charged particles in the range 2.5 × 10⁵–4 × 10⁷ are derived using the experimental data obtained with the EAS MSU array. Possible approximations of the obtained distributions with different empiric functions available in literature, are analyzed. It is shown that the exponential function provides the best approximation of the angular distributions in the sense of the χ² criterion.     

Spatiotemporal structure of pulses in detectors of Cherenkov light of extensive atmospheric showers

We calculated the pulses of the Cherenkov light of extensive atmospheric showers in Cherenkov radiation detectors at the Yakutsk array in the framework of the QGSJET-II model. It is shown that the calculated width of a pulse of Cherenkov light in a vertical proton-induced shower of energy of 10¹⁸–10²⁰ eV increases from 50 ns at a distance of 200 m from the shower axis to 700 ns at a distance of 1 km.     

A search for precursors to extensive air showers

No evidence for precursors to cosmic ray air showers was found ($\text{“}\text{flux}\text{”?10}{}^{\mathrm{?8}}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{?2}}\text{sr}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{s}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$) in a sample 2.8 times that of Clay and Crouch and a system noise level several times lower. A simple model leads to a cross leation for production ?60 times the total proton-nucleus cross section.     

Radio emission of extensive air showers at microwave frequencies

It is found that the power of the incoherent radiation of ionization electrons of an extensive air shower in the frequency range of 150 GHz is more than 10^–24 W/m²Hz, with the shower energy ~10¹⁸ eV at a distance of 5 km from its axis. This means that, unlike fluorescent detectors, a radio telescope with an effective area of more than 300 m² can monitor the trajectory of showers with an energy higher than 10¹⁸ eV at any time of the day regardless of the weather. The spectrum maximum near the frequency of 150 GHz is roughly three orders of magnitude higher than the value experimentally measured in the characteristic band (~5-10 GHz).     

Methods for estimating the energy of extensive air showers

A multilevel scheme for calculating estimates of the energy of extensive air showers on the basis of signals in different detectors is considered. The numerical energy estimates at specified values of signals in scintillation detectors are smaller than the experimental ones by a factor of about 1.6. The results of the calculation confirmed that the total flux of Cherenkov light is proportional to the shower energy. The flux of fluorescent light generated within 100 m from the shower core is due to only 60% of the total energy.     

Acoustic phenomena caused by extensive air showers in Baikal

The sonic files were written in the scheme of trigger start from a scintillation facility in order to study the acoustic phenomena caused by extensive air showers (EASs). With an aim to study the acoustic effects, the methods of peaks and anticoincidences (with an amplitude-independent algorithm) and the method of small peaks were suggested. Similar sonic effects (obtained in different geometries and at different noise levels) indicate that acoustic phenomena caused by EASs are detected.     

Estimation of the energy of the electron-photon component of cosmic rays on the basis of data for Cherenkov light from ultrahigh-energy extensive air showers

The energy fraction E _em/E ₀ dissipated to the electron-photon component of extensive air showers (EASs) for E ₀=10¹⁵?10¹⁹ eV is estimated using data on Cherenkov radiation and charged particles from the Yakutsk EAS array. The results are compared with models with different dissipations to the electron-photon component and with calculations for various primary nuclei. In the energy range 10¹⁵?10¹⁶ eV and 10¹⁸?10¹⁹ eV, the ratio E _em/E ₀ is equal to 77 ± 2 and 88 ± 2, respectively, in agreement with the mixed and proton contents of primary cosmic rays in the former and latter energy ranges, respectively.