Related papers: Constraining pion interactions at very high energi…
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…
A new approach to investigations of ultra-high energy cosmic rays based on the ground-level measurements of the spectra of local density of EAS muons at various zenith angles is considered. Basic features of the local muon density…
The NA61/SHINE experiment at the SPS accelerator at CERN is a unique facility for the study of hadronic interactions at fixed target energies. The data collected with NA61/SHINE is relevant for a broad range of topics in cosmic-ray physics…
The mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is usually inferred from the depth of the shower maximum ($X_{\rm{max}}$) of cosmic-ray showers, which is only ambiguously determined by modern hadronic interaction models. We…
We test the predictions of hadronic interaction models regarding the depth of maximum of air-shower profiles, $X_{max}$, and ground-particle signals in water-Cherenkov detectors at 1000 m from the shower core, $S(1000)$, using the data from…
We report on an analysis of the high-energy muon component in near-vertical extensive air showers detected by the surface array IceTop in coincidence with the in-ice array of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. In the coincidence measurement,…
Using simulations of geosynchrotron radiation from extensive air showers, we present a relation between the shape of the geosynchrotron radiation front and the distance of the observer to the maximum of the air shower. By analyzing the…
We present a framework for the study of muon density patterns on the ground due to showers produced in the atmosphere by cosmic rays incident at high zenith angles. As a checking procedure predictions of a model based on such a framework…
In the present work we carry out a study of the high energy cosmic rays mass identification capabilities of a hybrid detector employing both fluorescence telescopes and particle detectors at ground using simulated data. It involves the…
Based on CORSIKA and REAS2 simulations, we investigate the dependence of geosynchrotron radio emission from extensive air showers on the energy of the primary cosmic ray and the depth of the shower maximum. It is found that at a…
The first interactions of photon-induced showers are of electromagnetic nature, and the transfer of energy to the hadron/muon channel is reduced with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced showers. This results in a lower number of secondary…
A major challenge in ground-based ultra-high-energy gamma-ray observations remains in discriminating sporadic gamma-ray signals from a huge background of cosmic-ray events. To achieve good discrimination power of gamma rays against protons,…
Cosmic rays interacting with the Earth's atmosphere generate extensive air showers, which produce Cherenkov, fluorescence and radio emissions. These emissions are key signatures for detection by ground-based, sub-orbital, and…
In air shower experiments information about the initial cosmic ray particle or about the shower development is obtained by exploiting the correlations between the quantities of interest and the directly measurable quantities. It is shown…
The muon charge ratio of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays may provide information to detect the composition of the primary cosmic rays. We propose to extract the charge information of high energy muons in very inclined extensive air showers by…
At Auger energies only model predictions enable us to extract primary cosmic ray features. The simulation of the shower evolution depends sensitively on the first few interactions, necessarily related to the quality of our understanding of…
We discuss air shower simulations based on the EPOS hadronic interaction model. A remarkable feature is the fact that the number of produced muons is considerably larger compared to other interaction models. We show that this is due to an…
Cosmic-ray protons with energies above $10^{16}$ eV passing near the Sun may interact with photons emitted by the Sun and be excited to a $\Delta^+$ resonance. When the $\Delta^+$ decays, it produces pions which further decay to muons and…
As neutrino long baseline experiments enter a new domain of precision, the careful study of systematic errors due to poor knowledge of production cross sections for pions and kaons require more dedicated measurements for precise neutrino…
The physics content of the QGSJET-III Monte Carlo generator of high energy hadronic collisions is discussed. New theoretical approaches implemented in QGSJET-III are addressed in some detail and a comparison to alternative treatments of…