Related papers: Updated Air-Shower $X_{\rm max}$ Moment Parametriz…
We show, for the first time, radio measurements of the depth of shower maximum ($X_\text{max}$) of air showers induced by cosmic rays that are compared to measurements of the established fluorescence method at the same location. Using…
In this paper we infer the mass composition of the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) from measurements of $X_{\rm max}$ distributions recorded at the Pierre Auger (2014) and Telescope Array (TA) (2016) Observatories, by fitting them…
We study the implications of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) data from the Pierre Auger Observatory for potential accelerator candidates and cosmogenic neutrino fluxes for different combinations of nuclear disintegration and air-shower…
The Tunka Radio Extension (Tunka-Rex) is an array of 63 antennas located in the Tunka Valley, Siberia. It detects radio pulses in the 30-80 MHz band produced during the air-shower development. As shown by Tunka-Rex, a sparse radio array…
We present a method to determine the proton-to-helium ratio in cosmic rays at ultra-high energies. It makes use of the exponential slope, $\Lambda$, of the tail of the $X_{\rm max}$ distribution measured by an air shower experiment. The…
We explore the feasibility of estimating primary cosmic ray composition at ultra high energies from the sum of muon, electron and photon densities and the depth of maximum of extensive air showers detected by the Auger Observatory. From the…
We focus on the primary composition of cosmic rays with the highest energies that cause extensive air showers in the Earth's atmosphere. A way of examining the two lowest order moments of the sample distribution of the depth of shower…
Mass composition is important for understanding the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. However, interpretation of mass composition from air shower experiments is challenging, owing to significant uncertainty in hadronic interaction…
Several air shower observatories have established that the number of muons produced in UHE air showers is significantly larger than that predicted by models. We argue that the only solution to this muon deficit, compatible with the observed…
The characteristics of an extensive air shower derive from both the mass of the primary ultra-high-energy cosmic ray that seeds its development and the properties of the hadronic interactions that feed it. With its hybrid detector design,…
Air shower simulation programs are essential tools for the analysis of data from cosmic ray experiments and for planning the layout of new detectors. They are used to estimate the energy and mass of the primary particle. Unfortunately the…
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.…
Motivated by the excess of the muon content of cosmic ray induced extensive air showers (EAS), relative to EAS modeling, observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory, and by the tension between Auger data and air shower simulations on the…
This paper presents the highlights from the recent measurements of the energy spectrum, mass composition, and arrival directions of the ultra-high energy ($> 10^{17}$ eV = 0.1 EeV) cosmic rays (UHECR) by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The…
The model dependence of the development of extensive air showers generated by high-energy cosmic-ray particles in the atmosphere is studied. The increase of proton-proton and proton-air inelastic cross-sections and values for the elasticity…
The depth of maximum for extensive air showers measured by Fly's Eye and Yakutsk experiments is analysed. The analysis depends on the hadronic interaction model that determine cascade development. The novel feature found in the cascading…
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…
We present a fast one dimensional hybrid method to efficiently simulate extensive air showers up to the highest observed energies. Based on precalculated pion showers and a bootstrap technique, our method predicts the average shower…
Studies of the influence of different hadronic models on extensive air showers at ultra-high energies are presented. The hadronic models considered are those implemented in the well-known QGSJET and SIBYLL event generators. The different…
In this paper, we will discuss the prospects of deducing the proton-air cross section from fluorescence telescope measurements of extensive air showers. As it is not possible to observe the point of first interaction $X_{\rm 1}$ directly,…