Related papers: Testing chemical composition of highest energy com…
Stable Superstring Relics (SSR) provide some of the candidates for the possible origin of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR). After a brief overview of the motivations for introducing such relics, we address the question whether…
The possibility that the Fermi scale is the only fundamental energy scale of Nature is under serious consideration at present, yet cosmic rays may already have provided direct evidence of new physics at a much higher scale. The recent…
Studies of the nature of cosmic ray particles at the highest energies are based on the measurement of extensive air showers. Most cosmic ray properties can therefore only be obtained from the interpretation of air shower data and are thus…
Research in cosmic rays is now nearly a century old, but most of the fundamental questions in this field remain unanswered, on the other hand the perspectives of future studies in the next decade are very bright. New detectors will provide…
Radio emission from cosmic ray air showers has the potential to become an additional, cost-effective observing technique for cosmic ray research, being largely complementary to the well-established particle detector and air fluorescence…
The dominant background for observations of gamma-rays in the energy region above 50 GeV with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes are cosmic-ray events. The images of most of the cosmic ray showers look significantly different from…
On the basis of the scaling approach and CORSIKA simulations data the radial scale factor of lateral distribution of electrons in extensive air showers is confirmed as potentially effective primary mass estimator, and its sensitivity to…
The origin of the highest-energy cosmic rays remains a mystery. The lack of a high energy cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum together with an apparently isotropic distribution of arrival directions have strongly constrained most models…
Our Galaxy is the largest nuclear interaction experiment which we know, because of the interaction between cosmic ray particles and the interstellar material. Cosmic rays are particles, which have been accelerated in the Galaxy or in…
We report an investigation of the mass composition of cosmic rays with energies from 3 to 100 EeV (1 EeV=$10^{18}$ eV) using the distributions of the depth of shower maximum $X_\mathrm{max}$. The analysis relies on ${\sim}50,000$ events…
The chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is a key question in particle astrophysics. The measured composition, inferred from the elongation rates of cosmic ray showers, looks in general very different from the initial…
The atmospheric depth where the energy deposit profile of secondary particles from extensive air showers (EAS) reaches its maximum, $X_{\rm max}$, is related to the primary particle mass. The mass composition of the ultra-high energy cosmic…
A fundamental question that can be answered in the next decade is: WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE HIGHEST ENERGY COSMIC PARTICLES? The discovery of the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays will reveal the workings of the most energetic…
We present measurements of the depth of shower maximum, Xmax, for cosmic-ray-induced extensive air showers recorded by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory over 17 years. The data set covers primary energies from…
High-energy cosmic rays are observed indirectly by detecting the extensive air showers initiated in Earth's atmosphere. The interpretation of these observations relies on accurate models of air shower physics, which is a challenge and an…
The origin and nature of the highest energy cosmic ray events is currently the subject of intense investigation by giant air shower arrays and fluorescent detectors. These particles reach energies well beyond what can be achieved in…
We review some of the properties of extensive cosmic ray air showers and describe a simple model of the radio-frequency radiation generated by shower electrons and positrons as they bend in the Earth's magnetic field. We perform simulations…
Characteristics of the high energy families (bundle of high energy e, gamma) and hadrons in the air-showers detected in the hybrid experiment together with emulsion chamber and AS-array at Mt.Chacaltaya are studied in detail by comparing…
The detection of extensive air showers (EAS) induced by cosmic rays via radio signals has undergone significant advancements in the last two decades. Numerous ultra-high energy cosmic ray experiments routinely capture radio pulses in the…
The paper describes lateral density distributions of electrons and muons of cosmic ray extensive air showers (EAS) in the energy regime of the KASCADE experiment. Potential EAS observables are extracted while some suitable lateral…