Numerical Simulation of Radio Signal from Extended Air Showers

TL;DR

This paper presents a new numerical simulation program for radio signals from extensive air showers, incorporating microscopic effects like geosynchrotron radiation and charge excess, to better understand ultra-high energy cosmic ray detection.

Contribution

The authors developed an independent, microscopic simulation code for radio emissions from air showers, including charge excess and geosynchrotron effects, providing detailed signal predictions.

Findings

Radio pulses exhibit bipolar patterns.

Spectrum is suppressed at lower frequencies.

Charge excess effect significantly influences signals.

Abstract

The burst of radio emission by the extensive air shower provides a promising alternative for detecting ultra-high energy cosmic rays.We have developed an independent numerical program to simulate these radio signals. Our code is based on a microscopic treatment, with both the geosynchrotron radiation and charge excess effect included. Here we make a first presentation of our basic program and its results. The time signal for different polarizations are computed, we find that the pulses take on a bipolar pattern, the spectrum is suppressed towards the lower frequencies.We investigate how the shower at different heights in atmosphere contribute to the total signal, and examine the signal strength and distribution at sites of different elevations. We also study the signal from showers of different inclination angles and azimuth directions. In all these cases we find the charge excess effect important.