Dortmund 2021 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 97: Experimental techniques in astroparticle physics IV

T 97.2: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 18. März 2021, 16:15–16:30, Tv

Towards Detecting Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes with the Pierre Auger Observatory — •Martin Schimassek, Darko Veberič, and Ralph Engel for the Pierre Auger collaboration — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) are short bursts of MeV gamma-rays originating from within thunderstorms. TGFs were discovered by satellite experiments nearly two decades ago. To this day the detection of the same phenomena on the ground still remains challenging. The attenuation of gamma-rays near the ground is large, thus limiting the detection range. In addition, the statistics is very limited, as covering sufficiently large areas with sensitive instruments is expensive.

However, cosmic-ray observatories, like the Pierre Auger Observatory, have sensitive detectors deployed over large areas opening up the possibility of observing these events. For cosmic-ray observatories, the difficulty in measuring TGFs is the design of the data-taking system that is not targeted towards working in thunderstorm conditions and detecting long lasting gamma-ray emission.

In this contribution, we summarize the current abilities of the Pierre Auger Observatory to take data during thunderstorms and comment on the observations of candidate events obtained so far. Additionally, we highlight the possibilities for future improvements both on the existing hardware and on the upgraded electronics that is currently deployed.