A Rotationally Symmetric Lateral Distribution Function for Radio Emission from Inclined Air Showers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a rotationally symmetric model for the lateral distribution of radio signals from inclined air showers, enabling improved event reconstruction and energy estimation.

Contribution

It develops a novel model that corrects asymmetries in radio signals from inclined air showers, simplifying analysis and enhancing accuracy.

Findings

Model successfully describes lateral distribution with rotational symmetry

Enables estimation of cosmic-ray energy from radiation energy

Sensitive to the depth of the shower maximum

Abstract

Radio detection of inclined air showers is currently receiving great attention. To exploit the potential, a suitable event reconstruction needs to be developed. The first step in this direction is the development of a model for the lateral distribution of the radio signals, which in the case of inclined air showers exhibits asymmetries due to "early-late" effects in addition to the usual asymmetries from the superposition of charge-excess and geomagnetic emission. We present a model which corrects for all asymmetries and successfully describes the lateral distribution of the energy fluence with a rotationally symmetric function. This gives access to the radiation energy as a measure of the energy of the cosmic-ray primary, and is also sensitive to the depth of the shower maximum.