Overview of MHz air shower radio experiments and results

TL;DR

This review summarizes a decade of progress in radio-detection of cosmic-ray air showers in the MHz range, highlighting key experimental results and analysis methods.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the main findings in radio-detection of cosmic rays over the last 10 years, focusing on results rather than experimental setups.

Findings

Radio detection effectively determines cosmic ray arrival directions.

Lateral electric field distribution correlates with primary energy.

Radio emission mechanisms are consistent with theoretical models.

Abstract

In this paper, I present a review of the main results obtained in the last 10 years in the field of radio-detection of cosmic-ray air showers in the MHz range. All results from all experiments cannot be reported here so that I will focus on the results more than on the experiments themselves. Modern experiments started in 2003 with CODALEMA and LOPES. In 2006, small-size autonomous prototypes setup were installed at the Pierre Auger Observatory site, to help the design of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). We will discuss the principal aspects of the radio data analysis and the determination of the primary cosmic ray characteristics: the arrival direction, the lateral distribution of the electric field, the correlation with the primary energy, the emission mechanisms and the sensitivity to the composition of the cosmic rays.