Speaker:	Konstantin Belov (UCLA)
Title:	The Dark Past and Bright Future of Radio Detection of UHECRs
Date (JST):	Thu, Dec 05, 2013, 13:30 - 15:00
Place:	Seminar Room A
Related File:	1065.pdf
Abstract:	Radio frequency (RF) emission from Extensive Air Showers (EASs), induced by Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), was discovered in 1965 at 44 MHz with many experiments around the world to follow in late 60's and early 70's. However, a large discrepancy in the empirical results that coincided with the radio astronomy moving to higher frequencies lead to the field's decline in late 70's. Unreliable results were partially due to current lack of understanding of the RF emission mechanism from EAS. With the advent of modern computational power, we are now able to simulate the RF emission using models derived from first principles. The clear picture of the expected RF emission guides the experimental setup of the future UHECR radio detectors. This development is very timely in light of discrepancy in the UHECR chemical composition measurements by major cosmic-ray observatories. The identification of cosmic-ray sources, explanation of the GZK-like feature at the end of the energy spectrum as well as interpretation of the cross-section measurements at ultra-high energies, all require very precise chemical composition measurements. The reincarnated radio detection technique is capable of answering the composition question by not only providing an additional statistics at a lower cost, but also by providing the experimental data that is free from traditional air fluorescence and ground array detector biases. With the potential to become a new milestone of the High-energy Particle Astrophysics and finally solving the mystery of origin and acceleration of UHECRs, one of the oldest unanswered questions of modern physics, the future of the Radio Detection of UHECRs is very bright.

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