Prospects for GMRT to Observe Radio Waves from UHE Particles Interacting with the Moon

TL;DR

This paper evaluates GMRT's potential to detect radio signals from ultra high energy particles interacting with the Moon, showing promising sensitivity for future UHE cosmic ray and neutrino observations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of GMRT's sensitivity to UHE particles via lunar radio emissions, highlighting its competitive potential for high-energy astrophysics.

Findings

Expected detection of significant UHECR/neutrino events above 10^20 eV in 30 days

Null results could improve flux limits at the highest energies

GMRT's sensitivity is comparable to current and future experiments

Abstract

Ultra high energy (UHE) particles of cosmic origin impact the lunar regolith and produce radio signals through Askaryan effect, signals that can be detected by Earth based radio telescopes. We calculate the expected sensitivity for observation of such events at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), both for UHE cosmic rays (CR) and UHE neutrino interactions. We find that for 30 days of observation time a significant number of detectable events is expected above $10^{20}$ eV for UHECR or neutrino fluxes close to the current limits. Null detection over a period of 30 days will lower the experimental bounds on UHE particle fluxes by magnitudes competitive to both present and future experiments at the very highest energies.