Energy estimation of direct and reflected cosmic-ray events aboard balloon-borne radio detectors
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{cabanafreire2026energy,
title = {{Energy estimation of direct and reflected cosmic-ray events aboard balloon-borne radio detectors}},
author = {Sergio Cabana-Freire and Jaime Alvarez-Muñiz and Matias Tueros},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.27666},
eprint = {2609.27666},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27666},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Energy estimation of direct and reflected cosmic-ray events aboard balloon-borne radio detectors
AU - Sergio Cabana-Freire
AU - Jaime Alvarez-Muñiz
AU - Matias Tueros
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.27666
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27666
AB - 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.
ER -