Reconstruction of anomalous air showers with SKA-Low
Abstract
Double-bump showers are a surprising class of extensive air showers (EAS) predicted by Monte Carlo simulations, which, so far, no experiment has been able to directly detect. They occur when a high-energy secondary particle, the leading particle, travels significantly farther than the rest, creating a distinct double-peaked longitudinal profile. The unique radio footprint of double-bump showers, characterized by multiple pulses in the signals and interference patterns in the frequency spectra, enables reconstruction of longitudinal profiles from radio observations. With its dense antenna array and broad frequency range, SKA-Low will be the first observatory capable of detecting these features, offering a new opportunity to probe hadronic interactions and use the distinctive signatures of elements to provide new mass composition measurements. The goal of this analysis is to take the first steps toward using these radio signatures to reconstruct the relevant parameters of the longitudinal profile of a double-bump shower. We will start by explaining the radio signal of double-bump}showers compared to that of average showers. Then we will create a simple 2-point emission model to explain the interference patterns in the frequency spectra, which can be inverted to obtain rudimentary estimates of atmospheric depth of both peaks. Lastly, we implement a brute-force approach to reconstruct multiple parameters of the double bump.
Related
- Reconstruction of very inclined air showers with radio data and application to the first GRANDProto300 cosmic-ray candidates
- Corrected detector-level reconstruction of inclined radio air showers from trigger-level ADC waveforms
- Radio measurements of air showers with the IceCube-Gen2 surface prototype station at the Pierre Auger Observatory
- Hardware-efficient neural networks for FPGA-based radio triggering of extensive air showers
- Identification of ultra-high-energy neutrinos in vertical air showers with surface detectors
BibTeX
@misc{henau2026reconstruction,
title = {{Reconstruction of anomalous air showers with SKA-Low}},
author = {Vital De Henau and Sjoerd Bouma and Justin Bray and Stijn Buitink and Arthur Corstanje and Edwin Dickinson and Tjibbe Gottmer and Brian Hare and Haoning He and Jörg Hörandel and Tim Huege and Clancy James and Mrinal Jetti and Philipp Laub and Xingyu Li and Marten Lourens and Hermann-Josef Mathes and Katie Mulrey and Anna Nelles and Subhadip Saha and Felix Schlüter and Olaf Scholten and Ralph Spencer and Christopher Sterpka and Sander ter Veen and Karen Terveer and Gia Trinh and Paulina Turekova and Darko Veberič and Keito Watanabe and Marc Waterson and Chao Zhang and Pengfei Zhang and Yi Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01347},
eprint = {2609.01347},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01347},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Reconstruction of anomalous air showers with SKA-Low
AU - Vital De Henau
AU - Sjoerd Bouma
AU - Justin Bray
AU - Stijn Buitink
AU - Arthur Corstanje
AU - Edwin Dickinson
AU - Tjibbe Gottmer
AU - Brian Hare
AU - Haoning He
AU - Jörg Hörandel
AU - Tim Huege
AU - Clancy James
AU - Mrinal Jetti
AU - Philipp Laub
AU - Xingyu Li
AU - Marten Lourens
AU - Hermann-Josef Mathes
AU - Katie Mulrey
AU - Anna Nelles
AU - Subhadip Saha
AU - Felix Schlüter
AU - Olaf Scholten
AU - Ralph Spencer
AU - Christopher Sterpka
AU - Sander ter Veen
AU - Karen Terveer
AU - Gia Trinh
AU - Paulina Turekova
AU - Darko Veberič
AU - Keito Watanabe
AU - Marc Waterson
AU - Chao Zhang
AU - Pengfei Zhang
AU - Yi Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01347
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01347
AB - Double-bump showers are a surprising class of extensive air showers (EAS) predicted by Monte Carlo simulations, which, so far, no experiment has been able to directly detect. They occur when a high-energy secondary particle, the leading particle, travels significantly farther than the rest, creating a distinct double-peaked longitudinal profile. The unique radio footprint of double-bump showers, characterized by multiple pulses in the signals and interference patterns in the frequency spectra, enables reconstruction of longitudinal profiles from radio observations. With its dense antenna array and broad frequency range, SKA-Low will be the first observatory capable of detecting these features, offering a new opportunity to probe hadronic interactions and use the distinctive signatures of elements to provide new mass composition measurements. The goal of this analysis is to take the first steps toward using these radio signatures to reconstruct the relevant parameters of the longitudinal profile of a double-bump shower. We will start by explaining the radio signal of double-bump}showers compared to that of average showers. Then we will create a simple 2-point emission model to explain the interference patterns in the frequency spectra, which can be inverted to obtain rudimentary estimates of atmospheric depth of both peaks. Lastly, we implement a brute-force approach to reconstruct multiple parameters of the double bump.
ER -