Related papers: Cosmic-Ray Events as Background in Imaging Atmosph…
Extensive air showers still are our only access to the highest-energy particles in the universe, namely cosmic-ray nuclei with energies up to several 100 EeV. Studying open questions in cosmic-ray physics, like their yet unknown origin…
Observations of cosmic rays have been improving at all energies, with higher statistics and reduced systematics. Fundamental questions remain regarding the origins of cosmic rays both within the Galaxy and in extragalactic sources, and new…
Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) detect gamma rays by measuring the Cherenkov light emitted by secondary particles in the air shower when the gamma rays hit the atmosphere. At low energies, the limited amount of Cherenkov…
We present a new methodology to discriminate between light and heavy ultra-high energy cosmic-ray primaries on an event-by-event basis using information from the radio detection of extensive air showers at MHz frequencies. Similarly to…
The lower energy thresholds of large wide-field gamma-ray observatories are often determined by their capability to deal with the very low-energy cosmic ray background. In fact, in observatories with areas of tens or hundreds of thousands…
Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) detect the Cherenkov light flashes of Extended Air Showers (EAS) triggered by very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays impinging on the Earth's atmosphere. Due to the overwhelming background from hadron…
Ground-based atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes are proven to be effective instruments for observations of very high energy (VHE) gamma-radiation from celestial objects. For effective use of such technique one needs detailed Monte Carlo…
We consider the possibility that the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray flux has a small component of exotic particles which create showers much deeper in the atmosphere than ordinary hadronic primaries. It is shown that applying the conventional…
The ratio of the number of muons with a threshold of 1 GeV and charged particles at a distance of 600 m from the axis is analyzed. Air showers with energies above 5 EeV and zenith angles with less than 60 degrees are considered. Comparison…
High-energy cosmic rays passing through the Earth's atmosphere produce extensive showers whose charges emit radio frequency pulses. Despite the low density of the Earth's atmosphere, this emission should be affected by the air refractive…
The HAWC observatory reconstructs atmospheric showers induced by very high-energy primary cosmic- or gamma-rays. Cosmic-rays with hadronic nature are several orders of magnitude more frequent than primary gammas and therefore it is…
The identification of Cosmic Ray (CR) sources represents one of the biggest and long-standing questions in astrophysics. Direct measurements of cosmic rays cannot provide directional information due to their deflection in (extra)galactic…
Telescopes based on the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique (IACTs) detect images of the atmospheric showers generated by gamma rays and cosmic rays as they are absorbed by the atmosphere. The much more frequent cosmic-ray events form…
The properties of cosmic rays with energies above 1PeV have to be deduced from the spacetime structure and particle content of the air showers which they initiate. In this review, a summary of the phenomenology of these giant air showers is…
A new generation of low threshold Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) may reach gamma-ray energies about 10 GeV with high sensitivities and very large collection areas. At these low energies cosmic electrons significantly…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation facility of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. It will reach unprecedented sensitivity and energy resolution in very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. CTA will detect…
Very high energy gamma rays entering the atmosphere initiate Extensive Air Showers (EAS). The Cherenkov light induced by an EAS can be observed by ground-based telescopes to study the primary gamma rays. An important parameter of an EAS,…
Continuum gamma-ray emission produced by interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar matter and radiation fields is a probe of non-thermal particle populations in galaxies. After decades of continuous improvements in experimental…
The photon density on the ground is a fundamental quantity in all experiments based on Cherenkov light measurements, e.g. in the Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). IACT's are commonly and successfully used in order to search and study…
We have studied the distribution patterns of lateral density, arrival time and angular position of Cherenkov photons generated in Extensive Air Showers (EASs) initiated by $\gamma$-ray, proton and iron primaries incident with various…