Scanning Lidar Based Atmospheric Monitoring for Fluorescent Detectors of Cosmic Showers

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel lidar-based atmospheric monitoring method to improve the accuracy of cosmic-ray fluorescence measurements by precisely determining atmospheric parameters affecting light transmission.

Contribution

It introduces a new analysis approach using multi-angle lidar measurements to accurately reconstruct atmospheric conditions relevant for cosmic-ray detection.

Findings

Effective inversion methods for lidar data are discussed.

The approach improves the accuracy of atmospheric absorption measurements.

Enhanced calibration of cosmic-ray fluorescence detectors is achieved.

Abstract

Measurements of the cosmic-ray air-shower fluorescence at extreme energies require precise knowledge of atmospheric conditions. The absolute calibration of the cosmic-ray energy depends on the absorption of fluorescence light between its origin and point of its detection. To reconstruct basic atmospheric parameters we review a novel analysis method based on two- and multi-angle measurements performed by the scanning backscatter lidar system. Applied inversion methods, optical depth, absorption and backscatter coefficient, as well as other parameters that enter the lidar equation are discussed in connection to the attenuation of the light traveling from shower to fluorescence detector.