Investigating double bump air showers with the SKA-Low

De Henau V, Bouma S, Bray J, Buitink S, Corstanje A, Desmet M, Dickinson E, van Dongen L, Hare B, He H, Hörandel JR, Huege T, James CW, Jetti M, Laub P, Mathes HJ, Mulrey K, Nelles A, Scholten O, Sterpka C, ter Veen S, Terveer K, Turekova P, Trinh TN, Saha S, Sharma S, Spencer R, Veberič D, Watanabe K, Waterson M, Zhang C, Zhang P, Zhang Y (2025)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Publisher: Sissa Medialab Srl

Book Volume: 501

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of Science

Event location: Geneva, CHE

DOI: 10.22323/1.501.0236

Abstract

Double-bump showers are a rare class of extensive air showers (EAS) predicted by Monte Carlo simulations. They occur when a high-energy secondary particle, the leading particle, travels significantly farther than the rest, creating a distinct double-peaked longitudinal profile. So far, no experiment has been able to directly detect these showers. The unique radio footprint of double-bump showers, characterized by multiple Cherenkov rings, provides a way to reconstruct longitudinal profiles from radio observations. With its dense antenna array and broad frequency range, the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) will be the first experiment capable of detecting these features, offering a new opportunity to probe hadronic interactions and constrain particle cross sections at high energies. In our analysis, we simulate the EAS using CORSIKA with the CoREAS plugin for radio. We developed a new method based on the Akaike information criterion to identify double bump showers in simulations by analyzing their longitudinal profiles. Then we investigate the prevalence of these double bump showers across different cosmic ray primary particles and various hadronic interaction models. We create a skeleton of the EAS which consists of all the particles with at least 1% of the primary energy, allowing us to confirm the leading particle hypothesis and track shower development following these particles. This will enable us to relate the attributes of the leading particle to measurable parameters. Depending on the exact shower properties, the radio footprint of a double bump shower can create a complex interference pattern, consisting of multiple rings. From this information, the longitudinal profiles can be extracted. SKA due to its dense antenna array and frequency range will be the first experiment able to observe these double bump showers in detail.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Inter-University Institute for High Energies (IIHE) Belgium (BE) University of Manchester United Kingdom (GB) International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research Australia (AU) Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands (NL) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Netherlands (NL) Purple Mountain Observatory / 紫金山天文台 China (CN) Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Germany (DE) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany (DE) Astron Netherlands (NL) Can Tho University / Trường Đại học Cần Thơ Viet Nam (VN) SKA Observatory United Kingdom (GB) Nanjing University China (CN) Xidian University China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

De Henau, V., Bouma, S., Bray, J., Buitink, S., Corstanje, A., Desmet, M.,... Zhang, Y. (2025). Investigating double bump air showers with the SKA-Low. In Proceedings of Science. Geneva, CHE: Sissa Medialab Srl.

MLA:

De Henau, V., et al. "Investigating double bump air showers with the SKA-Low." Proceedings of the 39th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2025, Geneva, CHE Sissa Medialab Srl, 2025.

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