Detection of Radio Emission from Cascade Showers of High-Energy Cosmic Rays in many Years Observations Using the Meter-Wave Radio Telescope BSA of LPI

V. A. Samodurov, R. D. Dagkesamanskij, A. S. Pozanenko, A. V. Dolgushev, E. A. Isaev, V. V. Oreshko

Transactions of IAA RAS, issue 67, 8–13 (2023)

DOI: 10.32876/ApplAstron.67.8-13

Keywords: processing technique, extensive air showers (EAS), cosmic rays, longwave radio emission

Abstract

One of the fundamental problems of astrophysics is the study of sources and mechanisms for the formation of high and ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. It is assumed that primary cosmic rays in the energy range 1016–1019 eV are generated by both galactic and (at higher energies) extragalactic sources. One of the ways to detect high-energy cosmic rays is to fix the radiation generated by EAS (Extensive Atmospheric Showers) from the penetration of cosmic ray particles into the Earth's atmosphere. The maximum emission from EAS falls on frequencies from 100 to 110 MHz, at which the BSA of LPI radio telescope operates. The paper presents the methodology and results of the analysis of hundreds of thousands of impulse signals with zero dispersion delay in many beams of the BSA diagram for 2012–2020 at once. Observation intervals ranging from one year to 8 years were analyzed for different sky zones. It is shown that at least once every few minutes we register events that manifest themselves in many beams of the BSA of LPI as a strong burst with a duration of no more than 12.5 ms (this is the shortest time scale of our data). Analysis of the data showed that a very significant part of these data (up to tens of percent of the entire array), apparently, is generated by EAS. The distribution of events, judging by the first results of the analysis, is approximately in anti-correlation with the background of the Galaxy, which can give indirect indications mainly of the extragalactic nature of cosmic particles that generate EASs. Signals were analyzed and divided into different fractions (“day” and “night”). They can be generated by different sorts of initial cosmic particles. For example, in the upper layers of the atmosphere, high-energy photons can end their journey (the peak of statistics is during the day), and in the lower layers, classical heavy cosmic rays (protons, other nuclei of atoms).

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