AstroParticle Lunch: Nat Alden and Phillipp Windischhofer (Chicago)

astrolunch
Fri, April 24, 2026
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Price Place PRB M2005

They will present and discuss their work with the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) collaboration, focusing on their latest paper that was recently published in Physical Review Letters:
 
  • Title: Observation of In-ice Askaryan Radiation from High-Energy Cosmic Rays
  • Abstract: We present the first experimental evidence for in-ice Askaryan radiation -- coherent charge-excess radio emission -- from high-energy particle cascades developing in the Antarctic ice sheet. In 208 days of data recorded with the phased-array instrument of the Askaryan Radio Array, a previous analysis has incidentally identified 13 events with impulsive radiofrequency signals originating from below the ice surface. We here present a detailed reanalysis of these events. The observed event rate, radiation arrival directions, signal shape, spectral content, and electric field polarization are consistent with in-ice Askaryan radiation from cosmic ray air shower cores impacting the ice sheet. For the brightest events, the angular radiation pattern favors an extended cascade-like emitter over a pointlike source. An origin from the geomagnetic separation of charges in cosmic ray air showers is disfavored by the arrival directions and polarization. Considering the arrival angles, timing properties, and the impulsive nature of the passing events, the event rate is inconsistent with the estimation of the combined background from thermal noise events and on-surface events at the level of 5.1σ.


 

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