Spatiotemporal Structure of a Reflected Cherenkov Light Signal, as Seen by the Sphere-2 Telescope

Abstract

SPHERE-2 is a Cherenkov telescope suspended under a tethered balloon and observing the optical Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation of extensive air showers (EAS) reflected from the snowy surface of Lake Baikal. Extended modeling of the SPHERE-2 detector’s response is done with a specially developed code. Resulting model events resemble EASes observed during observation runs at Lake Baikal. This work should facilitate event-by-event studies of cosmic ray mass composition in the 10–100 PeV range of energies.