Radio emission from the air shower sudden death

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel radio emission mechanism from air showers caused by the sudden absorption of particles at ground level, which could aid in ultra-high energy cosmic-ray detection.

Contribution

It proposes a new radio emission mechanism linked to the sudden charge absorption at ground, expanding understanding of air shower signals.

Findings

The new mechanism produces detectable radio signals in the kHz---MHz range.

The signal strength depends on primary energy, direction, and antenna position.

The maximum emission region differs from the shower maximum region.

Abstract

We present a new mechanism for air shower radio emission due to the sudden absorption of secondary particles when the shower front hits the ground. The electrons present in excess during the air shower development imply a net residual negative charge in the shower front. We show that for showers hitting the ground before the complete extinction of their electromagnetic component, the sudden vanishing of the net residual negative charge generates an electric field contribution in the kHz---MHz range. We characterize this radio contribution as a function of primary energy, arrival direction and antenna position, using the simulation code SELFAS2. We discuss the interest of this new predicted signal on detection and analysis of ultra-high energy cosmic-rays and we argue that the region in the shower of maximum emission of the electric field should not coincide with the region of maximum development.