Coherent Radiation from Extensive Air Showers in the Ultra-High Frequency Band

Using detailed Monte Carlo simulations we have characterized the features of the radio emission of inclined air showers in the Ultra-High Frequency band (300 MHz - 3 GHz). The Fourier-spectrum of the radiation is shown to have a sizable intensity well into the GHz frequency range. The emission is mainly due to transverse currents induced by the geomagnetic field and to the excess charge produced by the Askaryan effect. At these frequencies only a significantly reduced volume of the shower around the axis contributes coherently to the signal observed on the ground. The size of the coherently emitting volume depends on frequency, shower geometry and observer position, and is interpreted in terms of the relative time delays. At ground level, the maximum emission at high frequencies is concentrated in an elliptical ring-like region around the intersection of a Cherenkov cone with its vertex at shower maximum and the ground. The frequency spectrum of inclined showers when observed at positions that view shower maximum in the Cherenkov direction, is shown to be in broad agreement with the pulses detected by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, making the interpretation that they are due to Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray atmospheric showers consistent with our simulations. These results are also of great importance for experiments aiming to detect molecular bremsstrahlung radiation in the GHz range as they present an important background for its detection.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Search for microwave emission from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

We present a search for microwave emission from air showers induced by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with the microwave detection of air showers experiment. No events were found, ruling out a wide range of power flux and coherence of the putative emission, including those suggested by recent laboratory measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The Central Laser Facility at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Central Laser Facility is located near the middle of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. It features a UV laser and optics that direct a beam of calibrated pulsed light into the sky. Light scattered from this beam produces tracks in the Auger optical detectors which normally record nitrogen fluorescence tracks from cosmic ray air showers. The Central Laser Facility provides a "test beam" to investigate properties of the atmosphere and the fluorescence detectors. The laser can send light via optical fiber simultaneously to the nearest surface detector tank for hybrid timing analyses. We describe the facility and show some examples of its many uses.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to 29th ICRC Pune Indi

Studying the nuclear mass composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory measures the atmospheric depth, $X_{max}$, where the longitudinal profile of the high energy air showers reaches its maximum. This is sensitive to the nuclear mass composition of the cosmic rays. Due to its hybrid design, the Pierre Auger Observatory also provides independent experimental observables obtained from the Surface Detector for the study of the nuclear mass composition. We present $X_{max}$-distributions and an update of the average and RMS values in different energy bins and compare them to the predictions for different nuclear masses of the primary particles and hadronic interaction models. We also present the results of the composition-sensitive parameters derived from the ground level component.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2011, Munich, German

Hunting long-lived gluinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Eventual signals of split sypersymmetry in cosmic ray physics are analyzed in detail. The study focusses particularly on quasi-stable colorless R-hadrons originating through confinement of long-lived gluinos (with quarks, anti-quarks, and gluons) produced in pp collisions at astrophysical sources. Because of parton density requirements, the gluino has a momentum which is considerable smaller than the energy of the primary proton, and so production of heavy (mass ~ 500 GeV) R-hadrons requires powerful cosmic ray engines able to accelerate particles up to extreme energies, somewhat above 10^{13.6} GeV. Using a realistic Monte Carlo simulation with the AIRES engine, we study the main characteristics of the air showers triggered when one of these exotic hadrons impinges on a stationary nucleon of the Earth atmosphere. We show that R-hadron air showers present clear differences with respect to those initiated by standard particles. We use this shower characteristics to construct observables which may be used to distinguish long-lived gluinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 13 pages revtex, 9 eps figures. A ps version with high resolution figures is available at http://www.hep.physics.neu.edu/staff/doqui/rhadron_highres.p

Las nuevas formas de turismo receptivo en Uruguay. Estudio de caso de las estadías por estudios de maestría y doctorado (2005-2010)

O turismo no Uruguai se tornou, na primeira década do século XXI, uma importante atividade econômica geradora de divisas devido ao aumento do turismo receptor internacional, que escolhe este referido país do Cone Sul como receptivo. As formas adotadas por este turismo receptor internacional se enquadram nas tradicionais de sol e mar e turismo termal – turismo recreativo – e também outras formas, dentre elas, a estada de estudos. Este artigo analisa esta última, tomando como foco o caso de estadas de estudos de pós-graduação – mestrado e doutorado – realizadas por estudantes brasileiros. O enfoque metodológico é quantitativo, ao qual foi aplicada uma análise descritiva estatística, acompanhada de interpretações provenientes da temática do campo teórico do turismo. Estas interpretações apresentaram como resultado um significativo aumento no receptivo entre os anos de 2005 a 2010, vislumbrando que seguirão esta tônica, tendo com isso um aumento no gasto médio dos estudantes de pós-graduação durante suas estadas

The MIDAS experiment: A prototype for the microwave emission of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

Recent measurements suggest that extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) emit signals in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum caused by the collisions of the free-electrons with the atmospheric neutral molecules in the plasma produced by the passage of the shower. Such emission is isotropic and could allow the detection of air showers with 100% duty cycle and a calorimetric-like energy measurement, a significant improvement over current detection techniques. We have built MIDAS (MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers), a prototype of microwave detector, which consists of a 4.5 m diameter antenna with a cluster of 53 feed-horns in the 4 GHz range. The details of the prototype and first results will be presented.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 12th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD10), Siena, Italy, 7 - 10 June 201

The Air Microwave Yield (AMY) experiment - A laboratory measurement of the microwave emission from extensive air showers

The AMY experiment aims to measure the microwave bremsstrahlung radiation (MBR) emitted by air-showers secondary electrons accelerating in collisions with neutral molecules of the atmosphere. The measurements are performed using a beam of 510 MeV electrons at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of Frascati INFN National Laboratories. The goal of the AMY experiment is to measure in laboratory conditions the yield and the spectrum of the GHz emission in the frequency range between 1 and 20 GHz. The final purpose is to characterise the process to be used in a next generation detectors of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. A description of the experimental setup and the first results are presented.Comment: 3 pages -- EPS-HEP'13 European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (July, 18-24, 2013) at Stockholm, Swede