Patrick Neunteufel Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie, Institut für Kernphysik

EAS detection through molecular bremsstrahlung radiation in the GHz regime (pdf)

Established methods for obtaining sufficient statistics on ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) suffer from either a very small field of view or very limited duty cycle. An alternative detection method based on observation of molecular bremsstrahlung radiation (MBR) caused by extended air showers (EAS), which would be unaffected by the aforementioned limitations, has been proposed by Gorham et al. in 2008. MBR is expected to produce a signal in the GHz regime and be emitted quasi isotropically, which would allow measurements akin to nitrogen fluorescence observation while placing much less stringent demands on observation environments. This talk will discuss the theoretical background of MBR production in EAS events, provide a brief introduction to current GHz detection experiments as well as the AMBER experiment, conducted by Gorham et al., and present as of yet unanswered questions concerning the MBR production mechanism.