Abstract
THERE have been several attempts to ascertain the mechanism by which the ionized disk of a cosmic ray extensive air shower may emit a radio pulse, as observed at frequencies between 22 MHz and 560 MHz (ref. 1), but no conclusive result has yet been found. The high intensity requires that there must be coherent radiation from a spatial distribution of charge; it has been suggested that this occurs as a result of the separation of charges of opposite sign in the Earth's magnetic field2 or by the selective absorption of positrons leaving an excess negative charge3. Other possible mechanisms4 seem to give much lower intensities. Experiments at 22 MHz (ref. 5) and 30 MHz (ref. 6) support the magnetic separation hypothesis, but experiments at 44 MHz (refs. 6 and 7) indicate that the magnetic field may be unimportant. This communication describes a further experiment at 42 MHz which suggests that the relative importance of the two mechanisms may differ between large and small radio pulses.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Proc. Intern. Conf. Cosmic Rays, Calgary, papers EAS 59 to 69, Canad. J. Phys., 46, S216–254 (1968).
Kahn, F. D., and Lerche, I., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 289, 206 (1966).
Askaryan, G. A., J. Exp. Theor. Phys., 14, 441 (1962).
Jelley, J. V., Proc. Intern. Conf. Cosmic Rays, London, 2, 698 (1965).
Prescott, J. R., Paumbo, G. G. C., Galt, J. A., and Costain, C. H., Canad. J. Phys., 46, S264 (1968).
Abrosimov, A. T., Allan, H. R., Clay, R. W., Jones, J. K., and Neat, K. P., Nature, 222, 635 (1969).
Porter, R. A., Smith, F. G., and Torbitt, W. S., Nature, 213, 1107 (1967).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BRAY, A. Emission of Radio Pulses from Cosmic Ray Extensive Air Showers. Nature 223, 723–725 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/223723a0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/223723a0
This article is cited by
-
Evidence of Radio Pulses at 2 MHz from Cosmic Ray Air Showers
Nature Physical Science (1971)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.