Orateur
Pedro Facal San Luis
(University of Chicago, KICP)
Description
Microwave emission due to molecular bremsstrahlung in the
free electron collisions with the neutral molecules in the atmosphere
(within the plasma produced by the cascade ionization) could be used
to detect extensive air showers. Measurements show that molecular
bremsstrahlung scales quadratically with the primary energy and is
isotropic and unpolarized, and thus it could be used to obtain near
calorimetric measurement of the cosmic ray energy and good sensitivity
to the mass of the primary in an air shower detector. MIDAS (MIcrowave
Detector of Air Showers) is a prototype of a microwave telescope to
detect extensive air showers: it images a 20x10 degrees field of view
with a 4.5 meters parabolic reflector and 53 4GHz feeds in the focal
plane. It has been commissioned in March 2010 and is currently taking
data. We will present the design, performance and first results of
Midas.
Auteur principal
Pedro Facal San Luis
(University of Chicago, KICP)
