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The HIJING and VENUS models of relativistic hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions are used to study interactions of hadron-hadron, hadron-nitrogen and nucleus-nitrogen collisions, specific for the extensive air shower developments…
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…
Cosmic rays from outer space enter the atmosphere with energies of up to 10^{11} GeV. The initial particle or a secondary hadron inside the shower may then interact with an air nucleon to produce nonstandard particles. In this article we…
Cosmic ray primary particles initiate extended air showers (EAS) in the atmosphere. The directions of these cosmic rays approximate a homogeneous isotropic distribution. The HiSPARC experiment, consisting of a growing number of measurement…
The properties of cosmic rays with energies above 1PeV have to be deduced from the spacetime structure and particle content of the air showers which they initiate. In this review, a summary of the phenomenology of these giant air showers is…
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first we want to introduce a new type of hadronic interaction model (NEXUS), which has a much more solid theoretical basis as, for example, presently used models like QGSJET and VENUS, and ensures…
This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at graduate students in astrophysics/particle theory/particle experiment. In the first part, we explain the important progress made in recent years towards understanding the…
The role of Horizontal Showers induced by cosmic rays is discussed in detail. A new approach to the calculation of the muon component in horizontal air showers induced by protons, heavier nuclei or photons is presented which allows a simple…
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…
Cosmic Rays (CRs) include Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs). The CR flux data of protons and heavy-ions observed with spacecraft are often seriously contaminated by Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events. In this…
Space-based experiments, either orbiting the Earth or from scientific balloon altitudes, measure high-energy cosmic rays by measuring from above the atmosphere the optical and radio signals generated by extensive air showers (EAS). These…
We revisit and extend the analysis supporting a 60 year-old suggestion that cosmic rays air showers resulting from primary particles with energies above 10^{18} eV should be straightforward to detect with radar ranging techniques, where the…
Air shower universality states that the electromagnetic part of hadron-induced extensive air showers (EAS) can be completely described in terms of the primary energy and shower age. In addition, simulations show that the muon part is well…
The runaway breakdown -- extensive atmospheric shower discharge (RB - EAS) excited in thunderstorm atmosphere by high energy cosmic ray particles ($\epsilon_p>10^{17} - 10^{19}$ eV) generate very powerful radio pulse. The RB - EAS theory is…
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 Earth is continuously showered by charged cosmic ray particles, naturally produced atomic nuclei moving with velocity close to the speed of light. Among these are ultra high energy cosmic ray particles with energy exceeding 5x10^19 eV,…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) interacting with the atmosphere generate extensive air showers (EAS) of secondary particles. The depth corresponding to the maximum development of the shower, $\Xmax$, is a well-known observable for…
Primary GCR interact with the Earth's atmosphere originating atmospheric showers, thus giving rise to fluxes of secondary particles in the atmosphere. Electromagnetic and hadronic interactions interplay in the production of these particles,…
The KASCADE experiment measures a high number of EAS observables with a large degree of sampling of the electron-photon, muon, and hadron components. It provides accurate data for an event-by-event analysis of the primary cosmic ray flux in…
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…