On the prospects of ultra-high energy cosmic rays detection by high altitude antennas

Understand

Radio emission from Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) showers detected after specular reflection off the Antarctic ice surface has been recently demonstrated by the ANITA balloon-borne experiment.

• An antenna observing a large area of ice or water from a mountaintop, a balloon or a satellite may be competitive with more conventional techniques.
• We present an estimate of the exposure of a high altitude antenna, which provides insight on the prospects of this technique for UHECR detection.
• We find that a satellite antenna may reach a significantly larger exposure than existing UHECR observatories, but an experimental characterization of the radio reflected signal is required to establish the potential of this approach.