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arXiv · 2509.21306

Towards the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): the GRANDProto300 and GRAND@Auger prototypes

GRAND Collaboration·Jaime Álvarez-Muniz·Rafael Alves Batista·Aurélien Benoit-Lévy·Teresa Bister·Martina Bohacova·Mauricio Bustamante·Washington Carvalho·Yiren Chen·LingMei Cheng·Simon Chiche·Jean-Marc Colley·Pablo Correa·Nicoleta Cucu Laurenciu·Zigao Dai·Rogerio M. de Almeida·Beatriz de Errico·João R. T. de Mello Neto·Krijn D. de Vries·Valentin Decoene·Peter B. Denton·Bohao Duan·Kaikai Duan·Ralph Engel·William Erba·Yizhong Fan·Arsène Ferrière·Juan Pablo Góngora·QuanBu Gou·Junhua Gu·Marion Guelfand·Gang Guo·Jianhua Guo·Yiqing Guo·Claire Guépin·Lukas Gülzow·Andreas Haungs·Matej Havelka·Haoning He·Eric Hivon·Hongbo Hu·Guoyuan Huang·Xiaoyuan Huang·Yan Huang·Tim Huege·Wen Jiang·Sei Kato·Ramesh Koirala·Kumiko Kotera·Jelena Köhler·Bruno L. Lago·Zhisen Lai·Jolan Lavoisier·François Legrand·Antonios Leisos·Rui Li·Xingyu Li·Cheng Liu·Ruoyu Liu·Wei Liu·Pengxiong Ma·Oscar Macias·Frédéric Magnard·Alexandre Marcowith·Olivier Martineau-Huynh·Zach Mason·Thomas McKinley·Paul Minodier·Miguel Mostafá·Kohta Murase·Valentin Niess·Stavros Nonis·Shoichi Ogio·Foteini Oikonomou·Hongwei Pan·Konstantinos Papageorgiou·Tanguy Pierog·Lech Wiktor Piotrowski·Simon Prunet·Clément Prévotat·Xiangli Qian·Markus Roth·Takashi Sako·Sarvesh Shinde·Dániel Szálas-Motesiczky·Szymon Sławiński·Kaoru Takahashi·Xishui Tian·Charles Timmermans·Petr Tobiska·Apostolos Tsirigotis·Matías Tueros·George Vittakis·Vincent Voisin·Hanrui Wang·Jiale Wang·Shen Wang·Xiangyu Wang·Xu Wang·Daming Wei
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Abstract

The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND) is a proposed multi-messenger observatory of Ultra-High-Energy (UHE) particles of cosmic origin. Its main goal is to find the long-sought origin of UHE cosmic rays by detecting large numbers of them and the secondary particles created by their interactions like gamma rays and neutrinos. The GRAND Collaboration plans to achieve this using large arrays of radio antennas that look for the radio signals emitted by the air showers initiated by the interactions of the UHE particles in the atmosphere. Since 2023, three small-scale prototype GRAND arrays have been in operation: GRAND@Nan\c{c}ay in France, GRAND@Auger in Argentina, and GRANDProto300 in China. Together, their goal is to validate the detection principle of GRAND under prolonged field conditions, achieving efficient, autonomous radio-detection of air showers. We describe the hardware, software, layout, and operation of the GRAND prototypes. Using their data, we show a first characterization of the local electromagnetic environment of each site and a measurement of the Galactic synchrotron emission. Despite challenges, the successful operation of the prototypes confirms that the GRAND instrumentation is apt to address the goals of the experiment and lays the groundwork for its ensuing stages.

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GRAND Collaboration, Jaime Álvarez-Muniz, Rafael Alves Batista, Aurélien Benoit-Lévy, Teresa Bister, Martina Bohacova, Mauricio Bustamante, Washington Carvalho, Yiren Chen, LingMei Cheng, Simon Chiche, Jean-Marc Colley, Pablo Correa, Nicoleta Cucu Laurenciu, Zigao Dai, Rogerio M. de Almeida, Beatriz de Errico, João R. T. de Mello Neto, Krijn D. de Vries, Valentin Decoene, Peter B. Denton, Bohao Duan, Kaikai Duan, Ralph Engel, William Erba, Yizhong Fan, Arsène Ferrière, Juan Pablo Góngora, QuanBu Gou, Junhua Gu, Marion Guelfand, Gang Guo, Jianhua Guo, Yiqing Guo, Claire Guépin, Lukas Gülzow, Andreas Haungs, Matej Havelka, Haoning He, Eric Hivon, Hongbo Hu, Guoyuan Huang, Xiaoyuan Huang, Yan Huang, Tim Huege, Wen Jiang, Sei Kato, Ramesh Koirala, Kumiko Kotera, Jelena Köhler, Bruno L. Lago, Zhisen Lai, Jolan Lavoisier, François Legrand, Antonios Leisos, Rui Li, Xingyu Li, Cheng Liu, Ruoyu Liu, Wei Liu, Pengxiong Ma, Oscar Macias, Frédéric Magnard, Alexandre Marcowith, Olivier Martineau-Huynh, Zach Mason, Thomas McKinley, Paul Minodier, Miguel Mostafá, Kohta Murase, Valentin Niess, Stavros Nonis, Shoichi Ogio, Foteini Oikonomou, Hongwei Pan, Konstantinos Papageorgiou, Tanguy Pierog, Lech Wiktor Piotrowski, Simon Prunet, Clément Prévotat, Xiangli Qian, Markus Roth, Takashi Sako, Sarvesh Shinde, Dániel Szálas-Motesiczky, Szymon Sławiński, Kaoru Takahashi, Xishui Tian, Charles Timmermans, Petr Tobiska, Apostolos Tsirigotis, Matías Tueros, George Vittakis, Vincent Voisin, Hanrui Wang, Jiale Wang, Shen Wang, Xiangyu Wang, Xu Wang, Daming Wei. 2025-09-25. Towards the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): the GRANDProto300 and GRAND@Auger prototypes. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221%2F21%2F02%2Fp02041

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