{
  "abstract": "Balloon-borne radio detectors offer a highly effective approach to monitoring immense volumes of the Earth's atmosphere and ice for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. Because these payloads measure radio emission from a single, highly elevated vantage point, reconstructing the air-shower energy using traditional methods is not possible. In this work, we present a comprehensive, simulation-based energy reconstruction framework tailored to the unique cosmic-ray event geometries observed by balloon payloads. For the first time, we adapt and apply this methodology to direct atmosphere-skimming cosmic-ray showers, accounting for their highly asymmetric development in rarefied air. Furthermore, we provide a major update to the energy reconstruction of reflected downward-going showers by incorporating spherical reflection and ray de-focusing mechanics directly into simulations. We rigorously validate the method across different event geometries, demonstrating a baseline energy resolution of $8-11\\%$. Finally, we quantify the systematic effects of finite detector pointing resolution, unknown primary mass composition, and signal-to-noise ratio, establishing a robust framework for the analysis of cosmic-ray events in next-generation balloon missions such as PUEO and POEMMA-Balloon with Radio.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.27666",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Sergio Cabana-Freire"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jaime Alvarez-Muñiz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Matias Tueros"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5w0jh6h22n6ny.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.27666",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "5w0jh6h22n6ny",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27666",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-SA 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.HE"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214240474",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.27666",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5w0jh6h22n6ny.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
      "native_id": "2609.27666",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27666"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.HE",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Energy estimation of direct and reflected cosmic-ray events aboard balloon-borne radio detectors",
  "title_text": "Energy estimation of direct and reflected cosmic-ray events aboard balloon-borne radio detectors",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5w0jh6h22n6ny",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}