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Hadronic interaction models at cosmic ray (CR) energies are inherently uncertain due to the lack of a fundamental theoretical description of soft hadronic and nuclear interactions and the large extrapolation required from collider energies…
We present a summary of recent tests and measurements of hadronic interaction properties with air showers. This report has a special focus on muon density measurements. Several experiments reported deviations between simulated and recorded…
We develop a potential algorithm to relate the depth development of ultra high energy extensive air showers and the time delay for individual muons. The time distributions sampled at different positions at ground level by a large air shower…
We propose a novel approach for the determination of the nature of ultra-high energy cosmic rays by exploiting the geomagnetic deviation of muons in nearly horizontal showers. The distribution of the muons at ground level is well described…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this proceeding we present results on spectra of identified hadrons produced…
Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are often characterized indirectly by analyzing the properties of secondary cosmic ray particles produced in the collisions with air nuclei. The particle number $N_\mu$ of muon and the depth of shower maximum…
The development of an extensive air shower depends not only on the nature of the primary ultra-high-energy cosmic ray but also on the properties of the hadronic interactions. For energies above those achievable in human-made accelerators,…
The combination of fluorescence and surface detectors at the Pierre Auger Observatory offers unprecedented precision in testing models of hadronic interactions at center-of-mass energies around 70 TeV and beyond. However, for some time,…
We study the dependence of extensive air shower development on the first hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies occurring in the startup phase of the air shower cascade. The interpretation of standard air shower observables depends on…
The bulk of air showers initiated by very high energy cosmic rays exhibits a longitudinal development in depth with a single well-defined shower maximum. However, a small fraction of showers has a profile that differs considerably from this…
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.…
At high energy, cosmic rays can only be studied by measuring the extensive air showers they produce in the atmosphere of the Earth. Although the main features of air showers can be understood within a simple model of successive…
Although the generation of disoriented chiral condensates (DCCs), where the order parameter for chiral symmetry breaking is misaligned with respect to the vacuum direction in isospin state, is quite natural in the theory of strong…
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory provides the opportunity to perform unique measurements of cosmic-ray air showers with its combination of a surface array and a deep detector. Electromagnetic particles and low-energy muons ($\sim$GeV) are…
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 study basic characteristics of distributions of the depths of shower maximum in air showers caused by cosmic rays with the highest energies. The consistency between their average values and widths, and their energy dependences are…
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…
We discuss that hadron-induced atmospheric air showers from ultra-high energy cosmic rays are sensitive to QCD interactions at very small momentum fractions x where nonlinear effects should become important. The leading partons from the…
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 hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of a number of properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. By comparing these measurements to predictions from air shower…