Exploring the sensitivity of in-ice radio detectors to cosmic ray mass composition

In-ice radio detectors have been developed primarily for the detection of high-energy neutrinos via the Askaryan effect, but have recently been shown to also be sensitive to cosmic ray air showers impacting the ice sheet. Using CORSIKA 8 to simulate impacting air showers, we find that the lateral width of the in-ice cascade is sensitive to the atomic mass of the primary cosmic ray. The width of the shower core is accessible through the shape of the Askaryan radio spectrum, while the amplitude encodes the total in-ice charge excess. Using these two observables, we show that in-ice radio detectors can be used to measure cosmic ray mass composition in the region above 10 17 eV if the in-ice receivers are placed to adequately sample the Askaryan emission pattern. We also show that the in-ice core width is highly, but not exactly, correlated with the depth of maximum particle count (X max), the most commonly used observable for reconstructing cosmic ray mass composition.