Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

As it was shown only recently, electromagnetic waves are produced during the passage of cosmic ray shower in the atmosphere also at gigahertz frequencies, i.e. in the microwave range. The determination of the intensity of the emission is non trivial and dependent on the number of uncertainties, and thus it is still an open question, whether the effect can be used for the measurement of the longitudinal profiles of air showers, in the similar manner as the fluorescence light emission is already being used. We participate with the University of Chicago on the pioneering project MIDAS (MIcrowave Detection of Atmospheric Showers), which is designed to detect cosmic ray showers using parabolic dish and camera of feed-horn receivers in the focal plane.