| Issue |
EPJ Web Conf.
Volume 135, 2017
7th International Conference on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activities (ARENA 2016)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 04001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Lunar Radio Detection | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713504001 | |
| Published online | 15 March 2017 | |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713504001
Overview of lunar detection of ultra-high energy particles and new plans for the SKA
1 ECAP, Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
2 Depto. de Física de Partículas & Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
3 School of Physics & Astronomy, Univ. of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
4 Astrophysical Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
5 LPI, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Region, 142290, Russia
6 CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science, NSW 2122, Australia
7 Dept. of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud Univ. Nijmegen, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
8 Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
9 Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Univ. of Iowa, IA 52242, USA
10 IKP, Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie, Postfach 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
11 Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut„ Univ. of Groningen, 9747 AA Groningen, The Netherlands
12 Interuniversity Institute for High-Energy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
* e-mail: clancy.james@physik.uni-erlangen.de
Published online: 15 March 2017
The lunar technique is a method for maximising the collection area for ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray and neutrino searches. The method uses either ground-based radio telescopes or lunar orbiters to search for Askaryan emission from particles cascading near the lunar surface. While experiments using the technique have made important advances in the detection of nanosecond-scale pulses, only at the very highest energies has the lunar technique achieved competitive limits. This is expected to change with the advent of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the low-frequency component of which (SKA-low) is predicted to be able to detect an unprecedented number of UHE cosmic rays.
In this contribution, the status of lunar particle detection is reviewed, with particular attention paid to outstanding theoretical questions, and the technical challenges of using a giant radio array to search for nanosecond pulses. The activities of SKA’s High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group are described, as is a roadmap by which this group plans to incorporate this detection mode into SKA-low observations. Estimates for the sensitivity of SKA-low phases 1 and 2 to UHE particles are given, along with the achievable science goals with each stage. Prospects for near-future observations with other instruments are also described.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017
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.
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