A Rotationally Symmetric Lateral Distribution Function for Radio Emission from Inclined Air Showers

Abstract

Radio detection of inclined air showers is currently receiving great attention. To exploit the potential, a suitable event reconstruction needs to be developed. A crucial step in this direction is the development of a model for the lateral distribution of the radio signals, which in the case of inclined air showers exhibits asymmetries due to “earlylate” effects in addition to the usual asymmetries from the superposition of charge-excess and geomagnetic emission. We present a model which corrects for all asymmetries and successfully describes the lateral distribution of the energy fluence with a rotationally symmetric function. This gives access to the radiation energy as a measure of the energy of the cosmic-ray primary, and is also sensitive to the depth of the shower maximum.