INVESTIGADORES
MOLLERACH Maria Silvia
artículos
Título:
Probing the radio emission from cosmic-ray-induced air showers by polarization measurement
Autor/es:
THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION, INCLUYE S. MOLLERACH
Revista:
PHYSICAL REVIEW D - PARTICLE AND FILDS
Editorial:
American Physical Society
Referencias:
Año: 2014 vol. 89
ISSN:
0556-2821
Resumen:
The emission of radio waves from air showers has been attributed to the
so-called geomagnetic emission process. At frequencies around 50 MHz
this process leads to coherent radiation which can be observed with
rather simple setups. The direction of the electric field induced by
this emission process depends only on the local magnetic field vector
and on the incoming direction of the air shower. We report on
measurements of the electric field vector where, in addition to this
geomagnetic component, another component has been observed that cannot
be described by the geomagnetic emission process. The data provide
strong evidence that the other electric field component is polarized
radially with respect to the shower axis, in agreement with predictions
made by Askaryan who described radio emission from particle showers due
to a negative charge excess in the front of the shower. Our results are
compared to calculations which include the radiation mechanism induced
by this charge-excess process.