Senior Research Fellowship: Cosmic ray observations with LOFAR and SKA - 2nd term

Cosmic rays are the most energetic particles in the Universe. Identifying their sources and understanding the emission mechanism has proven to be a formidable challenge, which requires a combination of many experiments and observation techniques. Radio telescopes like LOFAR and SKA offer a unique opportunity to study the most energetic Galactic cosmic rays and the transition to the intergalactic flux in very high resolution. LOFAR has played a key role in establishing the radio detection technique for cosmic rays and provided the first high-resolution radio-based mass composition study. Construction has recently started on the Square Kilometer Array, which will provide an unprecedented amount of observational detail for cosmic rays in this energy range. This research proposal covers the continuation of LOFAR cosmic-ray analysis as it transitions to the upgraded LOFAR 2.0 array, as well activities that will lead to cosmic ray observations with the SKA. This includes the construction of a particle detector array, and an exploration of the new science that can be done with SKA.