The Air Microwave Yield (AMY) experiment to measure the GHz emission from air shower plasmas
Abstract
The AMY experiment aims to measure the Microwave Bremsstrahlung Radiation (MBR) emitted by air-showers secondary electrons accelerating in collisions with neutral molecules of the atmosphere. The measurements are performed at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of Frascati INFN National Laboratories and the final purpose is to characterize the process to be used in a next generation detectors of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (up to 1020eV). We describe the experimental set-up and the first test measurement performed in November 2011.