An air shower array for LOFAR: LORA

TL;DR

This paper introduces LORA, a particle detector array designed to work with LOFAR, a radio telescope, to detect and confirm air showers from cosmic rays, enhancing the observatory's capabilities.

Contribution

The paper presents the design, implementation, and current status of LORA, a new particle detector array integrated with LOFAR for cosmic ray air shower detection.

Findings

LORA successfully detects air showers within a 300 m diameter area.

LORA aids in triggering and confirming radio detections of air showers.

The system is operational and ready for data collection.

Abstract

LOFAR is a new form of radio telescope which can detect radio emission from air showers induced by very high-energy cosmic rays. It can also look for radio emission from particle cascades on the Moon induced by ultra high-energy cosmic rays or neutrinos. To complement the radio detection, we are setting up a small particle detector array LORA (LOfar Radboud Air shower array) within an area of $\sim 300$ m diameter in the LOFAR core. It will help in triggering and confirming the radio detection of air showers with the LOFAR antennas. In this paper, we present a short overview about LORA and discuss its current status.