Detection of Above the Limb Cosmic Rays in the Optical Cherenkov Regime Using Sub-Orbital and Orbital Instruments
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2021-07-12
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Cummings, A. L. et al.; Detection of Above the Limb Cosmic Rays in the Optical Cherenkov Regime Using Sub-Orbital and Orbital Instruments; 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021), 12 July, 2021; https://pos.sissa.it/395/437/pdf
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Subjects
Abstract
Many upcoming experiments seek to observe high energy cosmic events while observing from
either sub-orbital or orbital altitudes, using the Earth atmosphere as an extremely large instrumental
volume, thereby increasing the geometric acceptance of ground-based instruments in addition to
supplying uniform exposure in both hemispheres. In particular, the planned Extreme Universe
Space Observatory aboard a Super Pressure Balloon-2 (EUSO-SPB2) and future Probe Of Extreme
Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) experiments will both utilize UV sensitive optical
cameras with nanosecond time resolution and observe near the Earth’s limb to attempt to capture
the Cherenkov emission produced by upwards going extensive air showers (EASs) sourced from
high energy cosmic neutrino interactions in the Earth. In addition, these Cherenkov cameras
also have coverage above the Earth limb, allowing access to the Cherenkov emission produced by
cosmic rays skimming the Earth atmosphere at high altitudes.
We show that sub-orbital and orbital based optical Cherenkov telescopes are quite sensitive to the
above the limb cosmic ray signal, in particular the sub-orbital case being sensitive down to PeV
scale energies, allowing for high event rates even for short observation periods. We argue that
because the properties of the arriving Cherenkov photons are similar for neutrino induced EASs
and those induced by above the limb cosmic rays, the latter provides an excellent benchmark for
qualifying the technique for neutrino observation with a well understood and guaranteed signal.