Speaker
Description
Currently imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes provide the most precise TeV gamma-ray measurements, but are limited to a duty cycle of about 15% due to their reliance on clear, moonless nights. Building on this idea, a novel imaging atmospheric radio telescope could combine radio detection with powerful imaging-based reconstruction while enabling observations with a duty cycle close to 100%.
We present a simulation based on the Huygens–Fresnel principle, which models radio-wave propagation beyond the far-field approximation while reproducing aberrations predicted by geometric optics.
Our simulation enables the formation of radio images from arbitrary electric field inputs. Applied to extensive air showers, simulated with CORSIKA–CoREAS, it produces images that preserve key physical properties such as arrival direction and shower morphology. Notably, gamma- and hadron-induced showers exhibit distinct image structures, closely resembling those known from Cherenkov telescopes.
Furthermore, frequency-dependent imaging provides sensitivity to shower geometry, highlighting the potential of multi-band observations. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of radio-based imaging of air showers and establish a proof of principle for imaging atmospheric radio telescopes under idealized conditions.
We will present our simulation, discuss characteristic image features of air showers, and outline next steps towards incorporating detector effects and realistic noise.