Antennas for the Detection of Radio Emission Pulses from Cosmic-Ray
induced Air Showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory
ArXiv 1209.384 (2012)
Authors:
P Abreu, M Aglietta, M Ahlers, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almela, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, R Alves Batista, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antičić, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, AM Badescu, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, C Baus, JJ Beatty, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, MM Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, I Brancus, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, L Buroker, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, B Caccianiga, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, M Cilmo, RW Clay, G Cocciolo, L Collica, MR Coluccia, R Conceição, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, B Daniel, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, SJ de Jong, G De La Vega, WJM de Mello Junior, JRT de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, KD de Vries, L del Peral, M del Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, C Di Giulio, ML Díaz Castro, PN Diep, F Diogo, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JC dos Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, H Falcke, G Farrar, AC Fauth, N Fazzini, AP Ferguson, B Fick, JM Figueira, A Filevich, A Filipčič, S Fliescher, CE Fracchiolla, ED Fraenkel, O Fratu, U Fröhlich, B Fuchs, R Gaior, RF Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, ST Garcia Roca, D Garcia-Gamez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon Bravo, H Gemmeke, PL Ghia, M Giller, J Gitto, H Glass, MS Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, PF Gómez Vitale, P Gonçalves, JG Gonzalez, B Gookin, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, E Grashorn, S Grebe, N Griffith, M Grigat, AF Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, GP Guedes, P Hansen, D Harari, TA Harrison, JL Harton, A Haungs, T Hebbeker, D Heck, AE Herve, C Hojvat, N Hollon, VC Holmes, P Homola, JR Hörandel, P Horvath, M Hrabovský, D Huber, T Huege, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, S Jansen, C Jarne, S Jiraskova, M Josebachuili, K Kadija, KH Kampert, P Karhan, P Kasper, I Katkov, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, A Keivani, JL Kelley, E Kemp, RM Kieckhafer, HO Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, J Knapp, D-H Koang, K Kotera, N Krohm, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, D Kuempel, JK Kulbartz, N Kunka, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, D LaHurd, L Latronico, R Lauer, P Lautridou, S Le Coz, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, MA Leigui de Oliveira, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano Bahilo, L Lu, A Lucero, M Ludwig, H Lyberis, MC Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, J Maller, D Mandat, P Mantsch, AG Mariazzi, J Marin, V Marin, IC Maris, HR Marquez Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, O Martínez Bravo, D Martraire, JJ Masías Meza, HJ Mathes, J Matthews, JAJ Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurel, D Maurizio, PO Mazur, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, P Mertsch, C Meurer, R Meyhandan, S Mićanović, MI Micheletti, IA Minaya, L Miramonti, L Molina-Bueno, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, E Moreno, JC Moreno, M Mostafá, CA Moura, MA Muller, G Müller, M Münchmeyer, R Mussa, G Navarra, JL Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, A Nelles, J Neuser, PT Nhung, M Niechciol, L Niemietz, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pȩkala, R Pelayo, IM Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, C Pfendner, R Piegaia, T Pierog, P Pieroni, M Pimenta, V Pirronello, M Platino, M Plum, VH Ponce, M Pontz, A Porcelli, P Privitera, M Prouza, EJ Quel, S Querchfeld, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, B Revenu, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, P Ristori, H Rivera, V Rizi, J Roberts, W Rodrigues de Carvalho, G Rodriguez, I Rodriguez Cabo, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, MD Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, AC Rovero, C Rühle, A Saftoiu, F Salamida, H Salazar, F Salesa Greus, G Salina, F Sánchez, CE Santo, E Santos, EM Santos, F Sarazin, B Sarkar, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schröder, S Schulte, D Schuster, SJ Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, M Settimo, A Shadkam, RC Shellard, I Sidelnik, G Sigl, HH Silva Lopez, O Sima, A Śmiałkowski, R Šmída, GR Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, YN Srivastava, S Stanic, J Stapleton, J Stasielak, M Stephan, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, AD Supanitsky, T Šuša, MS Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, M Szuba, A Tapia, M Tartare, O Taşcău, R Tcaciuc, NT Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, W Tkaczyk, CJ Todero Peixoto, G Toma, L Tomankova, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JF Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, G van Aar, AM van den Berg, A van Vliet, E Varela, B Vargas Cárdenas, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Walz, AA Watson, M Weber, K Weidenhaupt, A Weindl, F Werner, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, A Widom, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, M Will, C Williams, T Winchen, M Wommer, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, T Yapici, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, B Zamorano Garcia, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, J Zhou, Y Zhu, M Zimbres Silva, M Ziolkowski, D Charrier, L Denis, G Hilgers, L Mohrmann, B Philipps, O Seeger
Abstract:
The Pierre Auger Observatory is exploring the potential of the radio
detection technique to study extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy
cosmic rays. The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) addresses both
technological and scientific aspects of the radio technique. A first phase of
AERA has been operating since September 2010 with detector stations observing
radio signals at frequencies between 30 and 80 MHz. In this paper we present
comparative studies to identify and optimize the antenna design for the final
configuration of AERA consisting of 160 individual radio detector stations. The
transient nature of the air shower signal requires a detailed description of
the antenna sensor. As the ultra-wideband reception of pulses is not widely
discussed in antenna literature, we review the relevant antenna characteristics
and enhance theoretical considerations towards the impulse response of antennas
including polarization effects and multiple signal reflections. On the basis of
the vector effective length we study the transient response characteristics of
three candidate antennas in the time domain. Observing the variation of the
continuous galactic background intensity we rank the antennas with respect to
the noise level added to the galactic signal.
