The influence of the atmospheric refractive index on radio Xmax measurements of air showers

Arthur Corstanje; Stijn Buitink; Antonio Bonardi; Heino Falcke; Jörg R. Hörandel; Pragati Mitra; Katie Mulrey; Anna Nelles; Jörg Paul Rachen; Laura Rossetto; Pim Schellart; Olaf Scholten; Satyendra Thoudam; Gia Trinh; Sander ter Veen; Tobias Winchen

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201713501012

All issues

Volume 135 (2017)

EPJ Web Conf., 135 (2017) 01012

Abstract

Open Access

Issue		EPJ Web Conf. Volume 135, 2017 7th International Conference on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activities (ARENA 2016)


Article Number		01012
Number of page(s)		4
Section		Radio Detection of Extensive Air Showers
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713501012
Published online		15 March 2017

EPJ Web of Conferences 135, 01012 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713501012

The influence of the atmospheric refractive index on radio X_max measurements of air showers

Arthur Corstanje¹^*, Stijn Buitink², Antonio Bonardi¹, Heino Falcke¹^,3^,4, Jörg R. Hörandel¹^,4, Pragati Mitra², Katie Mulrey², Anna Nelles⁵, Jörg Paul Rachen¹, Laura Rossetto¹, Pim Schellart¹, Olaf Scholten⁶^,7, Satyendra Thoudam¹, Gia Trinh⁶^,7, Sander ter Veen³ and Tobias Winchen²

¹ Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen ( The Netherlands )
² Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels ( Belgium )
³ Astron, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo ( The Netherlands )
⁴ Nikhef, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam ( The Netherlands )
⁵ University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, ( USA )
⁶ KVI-CART, Zernikelaan 25, 9747 AA Groningen ( The Netherlands )
⁷ University of Groningen, Zernikelaan 25, 9747 AA Groningen ( The Netherlands )

^* e-mail: a.corstanje@astro.ru.nl

Published online: 15 March 2017

Abstract

The refractive index of the atmosphere, which is n ≈ 1:0003 at sea level, varies with altitude and with local temperature, pressure and humidity. When performing radio measurements of air showers, natural variations in n will change the radio lateral intensity distribution, by changing the Cherenkov angle. Using CoREAS simulations, we have evaluated the systematic error on measurements of the shower maximum X_max due to variations in n. It was found that a 10% increase in refractivity (n – 1) leads to an underestimation of X_max between 8 and 22 g/cm² for proton-induced showers at zenith angles from 15 to 45 degrees, respectively.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.

Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.

Initial download of the metrics may take a while.