https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713501017
SLAC T-510: Radio emission from particle cascades in the presence of a magnetic field
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
* e-mail: kmulrey@gmail.com
Published online: 15 March 2017
Cosmic ray induced particle cascades radiate in radio frequencies in the Earth’s atmosphere. Geomagnetic and Askaryan emission provide an effective way to detect ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The SLAC T-510 experiment was the first to measure magnetically induced radiation from particle cascades in a controlled laboratory setting. An electron beam incident upon a dense dielectric target produced a particle cascade in the presence of a variable magnetic field. Antennas covering a band of 30-3000 MHz sampled RF emission in vertical and horizontal polarizations. Results from T-510 are compared to particle-level RF-emission simulations which are critical for reconstructing the energy and composition of detected ultra-high energy cosmic ray air showers. We discuss the experimental set up, the data processing, the systematic errors and the main results of the experiment, which we found in a good agreement with the simulations.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
