Observation of Galactic Radio Noise with a Prototype Station of the IceCube-Gen2 Surface Array at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Electrons and positrons within cosmic-ray air showers generate radio emissions measurable by radio antennas on the ground. However, these antennas are subject to noise from both the Galaxy and man-made sources. The dominant source of the galactic radio background is attributed to emissions originating from the galactic plane. Under ideal conditions, the level of galactic noise received by radio antennas should only vary with the sky position of the galactic plane within the antennas' field of view.

We have analyzed background data collected by three radio antennas of a prototype station of the IceCube-Gen2 surface array deployed at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. The noise level was estimated in several frequency bands using root mean square (RMS) values over a 10-month period. We found that the noise level varies with a sidereal period, as expected for Galactic noise.