Detecting cosmic rays with the LOFAR radio telescope

The low frequency array (LOFAR), is the first radio telescope designed with the capability to measure radio emission from cosmic-ray induced air showers in parallel with interferometric observations. In the first ~2 years of observing, 405 cosmic-ray events in the energy range of 1016-1018 eV have b...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Principais autores: Schellart, P, Nelles, A, Buitink, S, Corstanje, A, Enriquez, J, Falcke, H, Frieswijk, W, Horandel, JR, Horneffer, A, James, C, Krause, M, Mevius, M, Scholten, O, ter Veen, S, Thoudam, S, van den Akker, M, Alexov, A, Anderson, J, Avruch, I, Bahren, L, Beck, R, Bell, M, Bennema, P, Bentum, M, Bernardi, G
Formato: Journal article
Idioma:English
Publicado em: 2013
Descrição
Resumo:The low frequency array (LOFAR), is the first radio telescope designed with the capability to measure radio emission from cosmic-ray induced air showers in parallel with interferometric observations. In the first ~2 years of observing, 405 cosmic-ray events in the energy range of 1016-1018 eV have been detected in the band from 30-80 MHz. Each of these air showers is registered with up to ~1000 independent antennas resulting in measurements of the radio emission with unprecedented detail. This article describes the dataset, as well as the analysis pipeline, and serves as a reference for future papers based on these data. All steps necessary to achieve a full reconstruction of the electric field at every antenna position are explained, including removal of radio frequency interference, correcting for the antenna response and identification of the pulsed signal. © ESO, 2013.