Related papers: Investigating of longitudinal development paramete…
The description of high-energy hadronic interactions plays an important role in the (astrophysical) interpretation of air shower data. The parameter space important for the development of air showers (energy and kinematical range) extends…
We discuss the electromagnetic collisions of high energy protons, pions and kaons with atmospheric nuclei. In particular, we use the equivalent photon approximation to estimate (i) the diffractive collisions where the projectile scatters…
The three hadronic interaction models DPMJET 2.55, QGSJET 01, and SIBYLL 2.1, implemented in the air shower simulation program CORSIKA, are compared in the energy range of interest for the Pierre Auger experiment. The model dependence of…
The properties of cosmic rays with energies above 10**6 GeV have to be deduced from the spacetime structure and particle content of the air showers which they initiate. In this review we summarize the phenomenology of these giant air…
Different interaction models treating hadronic collisions below E_lab < 100 GeV in air shower simulations are compared within the frame of the CORSIKA program. Their behaviour is studied in isolated collisions of protons or pions with…
Extensive air showers are generated through interactions of high-energy cosmic rays impinging the Earth's atmosphere. A new method is described to infer the attenuation of hadrons in air showers. The numbers of electrons and muons,…
A general approach to a fast simulation of electromagnetic showers using parameterizations of the longitudinal and radial profiles in homogeneous and sampling calorimeters is described. The dependence of the shower development on the…
We propose an approach to derive longitudinal shower development information from the longitudinally unsegmented BABAR electromagnetic calorimeter by using tracking information. Our algorithm takes advantage of the good three-dimensional…
The predictions of hadronic interaction models for cosmic-ray induced air showers contain inherent uncertainties due to limitations of available accelerator data and theoretical understanding in the required energy and rapidity regime.…
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…
Several experiments measure the fluorescence light produced by extensive air showers in the atmosphere. This light is converted into a longitudinal shower profile from which information on the primary energy and composition is derived. The…
Whereas air shower simulations are very valuable tools for interpreting cosmic ray data, there is a long standing problem: is seems to be impossible to accommodate at the same time the longitudinal development of air showers and the number…
Extensive Air Showers are still the only source of information on primary cosmic rays and their interactions at energies above PeV. However, this information is hidden inside the multiplicative character of the cascading process. Inspite of…
The interpretation of extensive air shower (EAS) measurements is strongly dependent on the hadronic interaction models used for simulating reference showers. We study the importance of low-energy hadronic interactions in simulated air…
Using the data taken at the Pierre Auger Observatory between December 2004 and December 2012, we have examined the implications of the distributions of depths of atmospheric shower maximum (Xmax), using a hybrid technique, for composition…
The composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is still poorly known and constitutes a very important topic in the field of high-energy astrophysics. Detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is carried out via the extensive air showers…
The combined data of Fluorescence and Surface Detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory has recently provided the strongest constraints on the validity of predictions from current models of hadronic interactions. The unmodified predictions…
We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of the longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost four thousand events above 10^18 eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger…
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…
The recent observations of muon charge ratio up to about 10 TeV and of atmospheric neutrinos up to energies of about 400 TeV has triggered a renewed interest into the high-energy interaction models and cosmic ray primary composition. A…