# Radio detection of cosmic rays with the Auger Engineering Radio Array

## TL;DR

The paper discusses the use of the Auger Engineering Radio Array to detect and analyze extensive air showers caused by ultra-high energy cosmic rays, enabling improved measurements of their energy and composition.

## Contribution

It presents recent advancements in reconstructing cosmic ray mass composition and energy using radio detection data from AERA.

## Key findings

- Radio detection correlates well with primary cosmic ray properties.
- High duty cycle and large coverage improve data collection.
- Enhanced methods for mass and energy reconstruction are demonstrated.

## Abstract

The very low statistics of cosmic rays above the knee region make their study possible only through the detection of the extensive air showers (EAS) produced by their interaction with the constituents of the atmosphere. The Pierre Auger Observatory located in Argentina is the largest high energy cosmic-ray detection array in the world, composed of fluorescence telescopes, particle detectors on the ground and radio antennas. The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is composed of 153 autonomous radio stations that sample the radio emission of the extensive air showers in the 30 MHz to 80 MHz frequency range. It covers a surface of 17 km$^2$, has a 2$\pi$ sensitivity to arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and provides a duty cycle close to 100\%. The electric field emitted by the secondary particles of an air shower is highly correlated to the primary cosmic ray characteristics like energy and mass, and the emission mechanisms are meanwhile well understood. In this contribution, recent progress on the reconstruction of the mass composition and energy measurements with AERA will be presented.