Influence of the vacuum-lunar regolith interface on the generation of radio emission by a cascade shower from an ultrahigh-energy particle

Abstract

We present the results of our calculation of the radio emission field produced by an electron-photon shower from an ultrahigh-energy particle under the surface of the Moon. We consider two cases of cascade propagation: the first in the lunar regolith-vacuum direction at small angles to the interface; and the second in the opposite direction when the particle generates a cascade almost immediately after it has crossed the vacuum-regolith interface. To calculate the relative energy density of the emission emerged at the surface, we have used the method of decomposing spherical waves into plane ones. The intensity of the refracted waves for high frequencies has been found to depend strongly on the shower inclination angle.