Minimal prospects for radio detection of extensive air showers in the atmosphere of Jupiter

TL;DR

Detecting ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos via radio emissions from Jupiter's atmosphere is theoretically possible but practically unfeasible with current technology due to extremely high energy thresholds and limited acceptance angles.

Contribution

This paper evaluates the potential of using Jupiter as a natural detector for cosmic rays and neutrinos through radio emission detection, highlighting the limitations of current methods.

Findings

Effective detection area is large (~3*10^7 km^2)

Acceptance angle is very small, limiting detection capability

Detection thresholds are extremely high (~10^23 eV)

Abstract

One possible approach for detecting ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos is to search for radio emission from extensive air showers created when they interact in the atmosphere of Jupiter, effectively utilizing Jupiter as a particle detector. We investigate the potential of this approach. For searches with current or planned radio telescopes we find that the effective area for detection of cosmic rays is substantial (~3*10^7 km^2), but the acceptance angle is so small that the typical geometric aperture (~10^3 km^2 sr) is less than that of existing terrestrial detectors, and cosmic rays also cannot be detected below an extremely high threshold energy (~10^23 eV). The geometric aperture for neutrinos is slightly larger, and greater sensitivity can be achieved with a radio detector on a Jupiter-orbiting satellite, but in neither case is this sufficient to constitute a practical detection technique. Exploitation of the large surface area of Jupiter for detecting ultra-high-energy particles remains a long-term prospect that will require a different technique, such as orbital fluorescence detection.