Related papers: Extensive Air Shower Simulations at the Highest En…
The description of high-energy hadronic interactions plays an important role in the (astrophysical) interpretation of air shower data. The parameter space important for the development of air showers (energy and kinematical range) extends…
The AIRES (AIR-shower Extended Simulations) system is a set of programs and subroutines to realistically simulate particle showers produced after the incidence of high energy cosmic rays on the Earth's atmosphere, and to manage all the…
Extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays are sensitive to the details of hadronic interactions models, so we present the main results obtained using the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The depth at which the…
Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers probe particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators. Here we introduce a new method to test hadronic interaction models without relying on the absolute energy calibration, and apply it…
Very high energy cosmic rays are typically studied by measuring extensive air showers formed by secondary particles produced in collisions with air nuclei. The indirect character of the measurement makes the physics interpretation of cosmic…
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.…
The characteristics of extensive air showers are sensitive to the details of hadronic interactions at energies and in kinematic regions beyond those tested by human-made accelerators. Uncertainties on extrapolations of the hadronic…
In this article, I will review how observations performed with extensive air showers are being used to probe hadronic interactions at high energy. I will briefly overview the new studies exploring the connection between the dynamics of air…
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 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…
Astroparticles offer a new path for research in the field of particle physics, allowing investigations at energies above those accesible with accelerators. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays can be studied via the observation of the showers they…
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…
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…
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…
When high-energy cosmic rays (gamma's, protons, or heavy nuclei) impinge onto the Earth's atmosphere, they interact at high altitude with the air nuclei as targets. By repeated interaction of the secondaries an `extensive air shower' (EAS)…
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…
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…
Air shower simulations are essential for interpreting data from cosmic ray experiments. At highest energies though, a microscopic treatment of a whole shower is not possible any more, since it would require a huge amount of CPU-time. We…
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,…
Extensive air showers are complex objects, resulting of billions of particle reactions initiated by single cosmic ray at ultra-high-energy. Their characteristics are sensitive both to the mass of the primary cosmic ray and to the details of…