Related papers: Anomalous Longitudinal Shower Profiles and Hadroni…
We study the influence of shower fluctuations, and the possible presence of different nuclear species in the primary cosmic ray spectrum, on the experimental determination of both shower energy and the proton air inelastic cross section…
Very high energy cosmic rays are typically studied by measuring extensive air showers formed by secondary particles produced in collisions with air nuclei. The indirect character of the measurement makes the physics interpretation of cosmic…
The objective of this work is to report on the influence of muon interactions on the development of air showers initiated by astroparticles. We make a comparative study of the different theoretical approaches to muon bremsstrahlung and…
The mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays can be studied from the distributions of the depth of shower maximum and/or the muon shower size. Here, we study the dependence of the mean muon shower size on the depth of shower…
Data from multiple experiments suggest that the current interaction models used in Monte Carlo simulations do not correctly reproduce the hadronic interactions in air showers produced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR), in particular…
Radio detection of extensive air showers enables near-continuous observation and precise measurements of the shower geometry and the depth of shower maximum, $X_{\rm max}$. Beyond $X_{\rm max}$, the longitudinal shower development follows a…
We present a parameterized model of atmospheric particle showers initiated by cosmic rays. Few physics shower parameters are tuned in a comparison to the Conex generator. Resulting shower properties are studied, with a comment on the cases…
We evaluate the consistency of hadronic interaction models in the CORSIKA simulation package with publicly available fluorescence telescope data from the Pierre Auger Observatory. By comparing the first few central moments of the extended…
Atmosphere-skimming showers are initiated by cosmic rays with incoming directions such that the full development of the cascade occurs inside the atmosphere without ever reaching the ground. This new class of showers has been observed in…
A comparative analysis of the secondary particles output of the main hadronic interaction packages used in simulations of extensive air showers is presented. Special attention is given to the study of events with very energetic leading…
The analytical representation of the longitudinal hadronic shower development from the face of a calorimeter is presented and compared with experimental data. The suggested formula is particularly useful at designing, testing and…
At ultra-high energies, the flux of cosmic rays is too low for direct measurements to be meaningful. When a cosmic ray enters the atmosphere, it initiates an extensive air shower, producing a cascade of secondary particles that propagate…
We present a method to test the impact of ad-hoc modifications of some of the generic parameters of hadronic interactions -- cross section, elasticity, and multiplicity -- on any observable quantity using full 3-dimensional simulations of…
Equations for the center of gravity of the shower originated by high energy proton in the atmosphere are written and, within certain simplifications, solved for the case of logarithmically decreasing interaction length of hadrons in the…
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…
In this work we argue that, in the interpretation of the energy dependence of the depth of the shower maximum and of the muon content in high energy cosmic ray showers ($E > 10^{17}$ eV), other variables besides the composition may play an…
We study the role new gauge interactions in extensions of the standard model play in air showers initiated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Hadron-hadron events remain dominated by quantum chromodynamics, while projectiles and/or targets…
The longitudinal profile of the most energetic cosmic-ray air shower measured so far, the event recorded by the Fly's Eye detector with a reconstructed primary energy of about 320 EeV, is compared to simulated shower profiles. The…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays impinge on the atmosphere and induce air shower cascades, in which huge numbers of particles are produced. By travelling through the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, these particles create a noticeable…
The characteristics of extensive air showers are sensitive to the details of hadronic interactions at energies and in kinematic regions beyond those tested by human-made accelerators. Uncertainties on extrapolations of the hadronic…