Volume 501 - 39th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2025) - Cosmic-Ray Indirect
First Data of the 3000km2 Radio Detector at the Pierre Auger Observatory
J. Hörandel*  on behalf of the Pierre Auger Collaboration
*: corresponding author
Full text: pdf
Pre-published on: September 23, 2025
Published on: December 30, 2025
Abstract
In this contribution, we present the status and first data from the Radio Detector (RD) at the Pierre Auger Observatory, consisting of $1660$ radio antennas deployed across the $3000$ km$^2$ surface detector array. These antennas measure the radio emission from extensive air showers in the $30-80$ MHz band, enabling electromagnetic energy measurements for air showers with zenith angles above $65^\circ$. Combined with the muonic measurements from the water-Cherenkov detectors (WCDs), this allows mass composition studies at the highest energies. The large-scale deployment of the RD began in November 2023 and was completed in November 2024. A full end-to-end calibration shows consistency between Galactic and in-lab calibration to better than $5$% and includes continuous monitoring for hardware failures, ensuring, for example, antenna alignment within $5^\circ$. We present the first data, demonstrating a strong correlation between the electromagnetic energy measured by the RD and the total shower energy measured by the WCD, confirming that the detector chain - including triggering, data readout, absolute calibration, and reconstruction is well understood. We highlight a particularly impressive $32$ EeV shower at a zenith angle of $85^\circ$, producing a $50$ km-long radio footprint, showcasing the unique capabilities of this detector.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.501.0294
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