Volume 358 - 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2019) - CRI - Cosmic Ray Indirect
Extension of the LOFAR Radboud Air Shower Array
K. Mulrey,* A. Bonardi, S. Buitink, A. Corstanje, H. Falcke, B.M. Hare, J. Hörandel, T. Huege, G. Krampah, P. Mitra, A. Nelles, H. Pandya, J.P. Rachen, L. Rossetto, O. Scholten, S. ter Veen, T.N.G. Trinh, D. Veberic, T. Winchen
*corresponding author
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Pre-published on: 2019 July 22
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Abstract
The LOFAR Radboud Air Shower Array (LORA) is an array of scintillators situated at the core of the LOFAR radio telescope. LORA detects particles from extensive air showers and acts as a trigger for the readout of the LOFAR antennas, which are densely spaced and routinely measure radio emission from air showers around $10^{17}$ eV. LORA originally consisted of 20 scintillators. An extension is underway that doubles the number of scintillators and increases the effective area of the array. This will result in a 45% increase in the number of triggers from higher energy cosmic rays, which are more likely to produce a strong radio signal. In addition, it will reduce the composition bias inherent in detecting low energy showers. In this contribution we discuss the status of the LORA extension and prospects for the science that can be done with the expanded triggering capabilities and improved calibration of the detector.
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