Abstract The burst of radio emission by an extensive air shower provides a promising alternative for detecting ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We have developed an independent numerical program to simulate these radio signals. Our code is based on a microscopic treatment, with both the geosynchrotron radiation and charge included. Here we give the first presentation of our basic program and its results. When the time-domain signals for different polarizations are computed, we find that the pulses take on a bipolar pattern and the spectrum is suppressed towards the lower frequencies. We investigate how showers at different heights in the atmosphere contribute to the total signal, and examine the signal strength and distribution at sites with different elevations. We also study the signal from showers with different inclination angles and azimuth directions. In all these cases we find the charge excess effect is important.
Keywords astroparticle physics — radiation mechanisms: general
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