Spontaneous and induced Čerenkov emission in a turbulent medium

It is shown that the presence of spatially random fluctuations in refractive index, about a mean exceeding unity, influences the power output of erenkov waves emitted by a charged particle in several ways.(1) The frequency spectrum of the spontaneous emission is altered by the fluctuations. (2) There is an induced erenkov emission, due to the interaction of the spontaneous field with the random refractive index variations. This induced field can, in certain frequency bands, be as large as the spontaneous field. And it also contains a backscattered component which propagates in theopposite direction to the particle. (3) The conditions for emission of the erenkov waves, be they spontaneous or induced, depend critically on both the mean refractive index, the particle velocity, the intensity and correlation length of the fluctuations. And the dependence is sensitive to the precise functional form of the two-point correlation function.Instruments detect the optical erenkov emission produced by cosmic ray particles penetrating the Earth's atmosphere (below about 5 km). Also gas erenkov counters are triggered by the passage of highly energetic particles through the gas. Since both the Earth's lower atmosphere and the gas counters contain turbulent fluctuations, the present calculation is of some interest in connection with particle energy loss mechanisms in turbulent media and the basic structure of such media.     

Low energy γ-ray events in imaging Čerenkov telescope arrays

One of the major goals in VHE--ray astronomy is to open the energy range below 100 GeV with earthbound detectors. This paper demonstrates a new method for analyzing erenkov light of a shower in a erenkov telescope array. This method is successful for showers in this low energy regime where previous techniques (e.g. alpha analysis) are not applicable. A Monte Carlo simulation is applied to a system of 19 Whipple type [3, Cawley 1990] Imaging Atmospheric erenkov telescopes (IAT), each built as a 10 m diameter reflector and equipped with a 109 photomultiplier tube camera. The energy threshold for a single detector of this type is given [5, Kerrick et al. 1995] as 250 GeV. Analysis of simulated coincident events of the system for those events not having enough light to apply a standard imaging analysis [4, Hillas 1985], leads to a considerably lower threshold of 85 GeV. With a new analysis method of these events it is shown that it should be possible to distinguish between -ray induced and proton induced showers. The improvement of sensitivity (Q = figure of merit) of this analysis method is found to be Q=2.9.     

Optical characteristics of the whipple observatory TeV gamma-ray imaging telescope

In TeV -ray astronomy, large mirrors are used to collect erenkov light from electromagnetic cascades in the atmosphere in order to obtain low energy thresholds. The flux sensitivity of TeV -ray detectors is limited by background due to erenkov light bursts from isotropic, cosmic-ray showers which are much more numerous than -ray showers. It has recently been established that most of this background can be eliminated on the basis of the shapes of erenkov light images on the focal plane of a telescope. In order for this technique to work, the light collector must have adequate resolution over a relatively wide field of view. In this paper, the optical characteristics of the 10 m reflector used in the imaging detection of the Crab Nebula are examined and contrasted with those of a standard parabolic design. This 10 m reflector has a unique (Davies-Cotton) design with small spherical facet mirrors placed on spherical support structure with radius equal to exactly 1/2 the curvature radius of the facet mirrors. The off-axis focusing properties of this type of telescope have not been examined previously.     

Čerenkov radiation within the Earth's upper atmosphere

A brief review of erenkov radiation within the upper atmospheric plasma has been presented. Different attempts in this context are systematically discussed. The results of analysis about the nature and characteristics of VLF hisses in terms of incoherent erenkov radiation are given in a concise manner. The occurrence of resonance cone has also been reported.     

Radiation and energy loss by monopole in cosmic plasma

Radiation and energy loss by monopole in cosmic plasma are investigated in detail. The general formulae for monopole radiation are derived; the erenkov power and spectra radiation differing from ones of charged particles are found; and its energy loss in cosmic plasma and metal is obtained. It is pointed out that it is possible to examine monopole in virtue of the erenkov radiation in ordinary medium.     

Čerenkov radiation in anisotropic plasmas

Following our series of works on anisotropic radiation, we analyze the erenkov condition in magnetized plasmas in this paper. We have discovered that the usual erenkov condition cos =1/n isnot satisfied at a far field point in anisotropic media, implying that when a charge is moving in a magnetized plasma, a linear shock wave front does not form. Thus we can calculate the power received at a far field per unit time in such a medium — this quantity could not be evaluated according to previous theory. Numerical examples are presented to show various relevant characteristics of erenkov radiation in model plasmas.     

Possible influence of cosmic ray Čerenkov photons on infrared interferometric search for non-solar planets

It is shown that the pervasive cosmic-ray protons in the vicinity of the Earth would produce infrared photons by erenkov radiation in the material walls, and mirrors, of an orbiting infrared interferometer designed to search for non-solar planets. The flux of such photons is at least comparable to the zodiacal infrared background radiation. It is found that for the worst possible conditions a minimum time of about six weeks is indicated for planetary detection using a fourth-harmonic noise analysis. It is suggested that direct laboratory measurement of a simulated cosmic-ray-induced erenkov flux be undertaken to settle the question of the background contaminant produced by this effect.     

Nonlinear wave conversion in electron-positron plasmas

Wave conversion mechanisms causing large-frequency shifts are considered for an electron-positron plasma in a strong magnetic field. In particular, we discuss the effects of the nonlinear erenkov as well as the cyclotron resonances in order to associate pulsar radio-emissions with our present model for nonlinear conversion of high-frequency radiation into the low-frequency region.     

A new upper limit on optical bursts from primordial black hole explosions

Two wide-angle photomultiplier systems were simultaneously operated over a baseline of nearly 30 km in a search for cosmic optical bursts of fractional microsecond time-scale. In 74 hours of overlapping observation, one event was recorded coincident to 1 ms as against the corresponding accidental coincidence value of 0.14 from erenkov light pulses from unrelated cosmic ray showers. The possible cosmic origin of this event, including that from primordial black-hole explosions, is discussed and the corresponding upper limits derived.     

Gamma Ray and Hadron generated Čerenkov Photon Spectra at Various Observation Altitudes

We study the propagation of erenkov photons generated by Very HighEnergy -rays and hadrons in the atmosphere. The photon productionheight distributions are estimated from semi-empirical methods andcompared with those derived by standard simulation techniques. Incidentspectra at various observation altitudes are then derived after applyingwavelength dependent corrections due to photon attenuation in theatmosphere during the propagation of photons from the height of productionto the height of observation. These are generated both for -ray and hadron primaries of various energies. The derivedproduction height distributions agree very well with those generated bythe simulation package `CORSIKA' at all energies and for both -ray and proton primaries. The incident photon spectra are found to beboth altitude and primary energy dependent. The peak ofthe incident spectrum shifts towards the shorter wavelength withincreasing altitude of observation for a given primary. Also the peak ofthe photon spectrum shifts towards the shorter wavelength withincreasing energy of the primary at a given altitude. The fraction of the UVcomponent in the incident erenkov spectrum is estimated both for-ray and hadronic primaries at various observation altitudes andenergies. Hadron generated erenkov spectra are marginally richer in UVlight and the difference increases slightly at higher altitudes. The fraction of the UV to the visible light in the erenkov spectrum could be a usefulparameter to separate -rays from cosmic ray background only if onecan measure this fraction very accurately.     

Measurement of sky clarity using MIR radiometers as an adjunct to atmospheric Čerenkov radiation measurements

A technique for detecting the presence of cloud in the field of view of an atmospheric erenkov telescope using a mid infra red radiometer is described. Models for the radiative emission from clear and cloudy skies are tested and found to represent the measurements.     

Monte Carlo simulations of radio pulses in atmospheric showers using ZHAireS

We present predictions for the radio pulses emitted by extensive air showers using ZHAireS, an AIRES-based Monte Carlo code that takes into account the full complexity of ultra-high energy cosmic-ray induced shower development in the atmosphere, and allows the calculation of the electric field in both the time and frequency domains. We do not presuppose any emission mechanism and our results are compatible with a superposition of geomagnetic and charge excess radio emission effects. We investigate the polarization of the electric field as well as the effects of the refractive index n and shower geometry on the radio pulses. We show that geometry, coupled to the relativistic effects that appear when using a realistic refractive index n > 1, play a prominent role on the radio emission of air showers.     

Thinned simulations of extremely energetic showers in dense media for radio applications

This paper presents our results for full 3-D simulations of very-high to ultra-high energy electromagnetic cascades – and the associated coherent Cherenkov radiation – as might be produced by high-energy neutrino interactions in dense media. Using “thinning” techniques, we develop an algorithm based on the existing “ZHS” code, and demonstrate that the new “ZHS-thinned” code can produce fast and accurate results for showers up to . Using ZHS-thinned, we develop new parameterisations for the radiation from showers in ice, salt, and the lunar regolith, with a separate treatment of the megaregolith (deep regolith). Our parameterisations include for the first time a method to simulate fluctuations in shower length induced by the LPM effect. Our results, which avoid the pit-falls of scaling simulations from lower energies, allow improved calculations of the detection probability for experiments searching for high-energy neutrinos using the radio technique.     

Gamma-Hadron Separation using Čerenkov Photon Density Fluctuations

In the atmospheric Čerenkov technique γ-rays are detected against the abundant background produced by hadronic showers. In order to improve the signal to noise ratio of theexperiment, it is necessary to reject a significant fraction of hadronic showers. Traditional background rejection methods based on image shape parameters have been extensively used for the data from imaging telescopes. However, non-imaging Čerenkov telescopes have to develop very different means of statistically identifying and removing cosmic ray events. Some of the parameters, which could be potentially important for non-imaging arrays, are the temporal and spectral differences, the lateral distributions and density fluctuations of Čerenkov photons generated by γ-ray and hadron primaries. Here we study the differences in fluctuations of Čerenkov photon density in the light pool at the observation level from showers initiated by photons and those initiated by protons or heavier nuclei. The database of simulated events for the PACT array has been used to evaluate the efficiency of the new technique. Various types of density fluctuations like the short range and medium range fluctuations as well as flatness parameter are studied. The estimated quality factors reflect the efficiencies with which the hadrons can be rejected from the data. Since some of these parameters are independent, the cuts may be applied in tandem and we demonstrate that the proton rejection efficiency of ∼90% can be achieved. Use of density fluctuations is particularly suited for wavefront sampling observations and it seems to be a good technique to improve the signal to noise ratio. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rediscussion of balmer decrement of broad-line radio-galaxies

On the basis of the erenkov line emission theory in the optically thick case, a new interpretation of intensity ratios H/H and H/H in broad-line radio-galaxies (BLRGs) is reported. Calculation shows that if the theoretical ratio H/H is just taken to be the mean observed value 0.21, equivalently, the parameterX(H)=3.0, then the expected ratio H/H=6.70 is almost the same as the observations. By comparing these values with the previous investigations of QSOs (X(H)=20.9), we conclude that the number density of neutral hydrogen gas in BLRGs is almost one order-of-magnitude smaller than that in the QSOs.Preliminary verification of the erenkov line emission has been obtained by Xuet al. (1981) in the laboratory.     

The shape of the radio wavefront of extensive air showers as measured with LOFAR

Extensive air showers, induced by high energy cosmic rays impinging on the Earth’s atmosphere, produce radio emission that is measured with the LOFAR radio telescope. As the emission comes from a finite distance of a few kilometers, the incident wavefront is non-planar. A spherical, conical or hyperbolic shape of the wavefront has been proposed, but measurements of individual air showers have been inconclusive so far. For a selected high-quality sample of 161 measured extensive air showers, we have reconstructed the wavefront by measuring pulse arrival times to sub-nanosecond precision in 200 to 350 individual antennas. For each measured air shower, we have fitted a conical, spherical, and hyperboloid shape to the arrival times. The fit quality and a likelihood analysis show that a hyperboloid is the best parameterization. Using a non-planar wavefront shape gives an improved angular resolution, when reconstructing the shower arrival direction. Furthermore, a dependence of the wavefront shape on the shower geometry can be seen. This suggests that it will be possible to use a wavefront shape analysis to get an additional handle on the atmospheric depth of the shower maximum, which is sensitive to the mass of the primary particle.     

Very low frequency (VLF) hiss in Jupiter's magnetosphere

The particle energy required to generate the observed VLF hiss in the Jovian magnetosphere has been computed under longitudinal and transverse resonance condition. It is shown that the minimum energy required by electrons to generate VLF hiss under the longitudinal resonance condition lies in the range of 100eV–1keV for the wave frequencies of 2–10 kHz, while the corresponding energy range for the transverse resonance condition for the same frequency range comes out to be 8 keV–40 keV. Further, the average radiated power by the erenkov process in the Jupiter's magnetosphere atL=5.6 Rj by electrons of energy 10 eV, 100 eV, and 1 keV for the wave frequency of 5 kHz has also been computed.     

Coherent Cherenkov radio pulses from hadronic showers up to EeV energies

The Cherenkov radio pulse emitted by hadronic showers of energies in the EeV range in ice is calculated for the first time using full three dimensional simulations of both shower development and the coherent radio pulse emitted as the excess charge develops in the shower. A Monte Carlo, ZHAireS, has been developed for this purpose combining the high energy hadronic interaction capabilities of AIRES, and the dense media propagation capabilities of TIERRAS, with the precise low energy tracking and specific algorithms developed to calculate the radio emission in ZHS. A thinning technique is implemented to allow the simulation of radio pulses induced by showers up to 10 EeV in ice. The code is validated comparing the results for electromagnetic and hadronic showers to those obtained with GEANT4 and ZHS codes. The contribution to the pulse of other shower particles in addition to electrons and positrons, mainly protons, pions and muons, is found to be below 3% for 10 PeV and above proton induced showers. The characteristics of hadronic showers and the corresponding Cherenkov frequency spectra are compared with those from purely electromagnetic showers. The dependence of the spectra on shower energy and high-energy hadronic model is addressed and parameterizations for the radio emission in hadronic showers in ice are given for practical applications.     

Numerical simulation of radio signal from extended air showers

The burst of radio emission by an extensive air shower provides a promising alternative for detecting ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We have developed an independent numerical program to simulate these radio signals. Our code is based on a microscopic treatment, with both the geosynchrotron radiation and charge included.Here we give the first presentation of our basic program and its results. When the time-domain signals for different polarizations are computed, we find that the pulses take on a bipolar pattern and the spectrum is suppressed towards the lower frequencies. We investigate how showers at different heights in the atmosphere contribute to the total signal, and examine the signal strength and distribution at sites with different elevations. We also study the signal from showers with different inclination angles and azimuth directions. In all these cases we find the charge excess effect is important.     

The nature of dust grains in the comae of Comets černis and Bowell

The currently available infrared data on scattered light from the dust comae of ernis and Bowell set stringent upper limits to the contribution of icy grains. For Comet ernis the data is consistent with only a 10% mass fraction of water-ice included within silicate-organic-carbon grains of scale radius 15 microns, while for Comet Bowell there is no evidence for any ice component. A coma of small (10–100m) organic grains containing a fraction of OH-bearing molecules that evaporate over weeks at 5 AU and leave an absorptive carbonaceous grain residue is the simplest model for Comet Bowell.