Radio detection of cosmic rays in the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

In small-scale experiments such as CODALEMA and LOPES, radio detection of cosmic rays has demonstrated its potential as a technique for cosmic ray measurements up to the highest energies. Radio detection promises measurements with high duty-cycle, allows a direction reconstruction with very good angular resolution, and provides complementary information on energy and nature of the cosmic ray primaries with respect to particle detectors at ground and fluorescence telescopes. Within the Pierre Auger Observatory, we tackle the technological and scientific challenges for an application of the radio detection technique on large scales. Here, we report on the results obtained so far using the Southern Auger site and the plans for an engineering array of radio detectors covering an area of ~20 km^2.