Instruments and methods for the radio detection of high energy cosmic rays [Elektronische Ressource] / von Frank Gerhard Schröder

Instruments and Methodsfor the Radio Detectionof High Energy Cosmic RaysZur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einesDOKTORS DER NATURWISSENSCHAFTENvon der Fakult¨at fu¨r Physik desKarlsruher Instituts fu¨r Technologie (KIT)genehmigteDISSERTATIONvonDipl. Phys. Frank Gerhard Schr¨oderaus WiesbadenKarlsruheDezember 2010Tag der mu¨ndlichen Pru¨fung: 11. Februar 2011Referent: Prof. Dr. Johannes Blu¨mer,Institut fu¨r Kernphysik und Institut fu¨r Experimentelle KernphysikKoreferent: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Gemmeke,Institut fu¨r Prozessdatenverarbeitung und ElektronikAbstractInstruments and Methods for the Radio Detectionof High Energy Cosmic Rays15Cosmic rays at energies above & 10 eV cannot be measured directly due tothe low flux. Instead, the properties of the primary cosmic ray particles (arrivaldirection, energy, mass) have to be reconstructed from measurements of secondaryparticlesforminganairshower. Forthis,digitalradioantennaarrays,likeLOPESatthe Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), are a relatively new instrument. Theradioemissionmainlyoriginatesfromthedeflectionofsecondaryairshowerelectronsand positrons in the Earth’s magnetic field. The radio technique aims at achievinga similar quality in the reconstruction of air shower parameters as the establishedCherenkov or fluorescence light detection methods, which in contrast to the radiotechnique are limited to dark, moonless nights.