Related papers: Possible Explanation for $E > 10^{20}$ eV Air Show…
The suggestion is made that air showers with energies beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min spectral cut-off may have primary vertices some 6 km lower in height than those of proton initiated showers with energies below the GZK cut-off. This…
A review is given on the recently proposed idea that air showers with energy $> 10^{20}$ eV beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min cut-off may be due to neutrinos having acquired a strong interaction at these energies, as suggested by the…
The ratio of the muon flux density to charged particle flux density at distances of 300 and 600 m from the shower axis ($\rhom(300)/\rhos(300)$ and $\rhom(600)/\rhos(600)$) is measured. In addition, the energy dependence of $\rhom(1000)$ is…
We propose a scenario in which a simple power-like primary spectrum for protons with sources at cosmological distances leads to a quantitative description of all the details of the observed cosmic ray spectrum for energies from 10^{17} eV…
The production of very high energy muons inside an extensive air shower is observable at $\nu$ telescopes and sensitive to the composition of the primary cosmic ray. Here we discuss five different sources of these muons: pion and kaon…
In models based on large extra dimensions where massive spin 2 exchange can dominate at high energies, the neutrino-proton cross section can rise to typical hadronic values at energies above 10^20 eV. The neutrino then becomes a candidate…
Extremely high energy neutrinos propagating in the atmosphere or in the Earth can originate horizontal or upgoing air-showers, respectively. We calculate the acceptances (event rate/flux) for detecting both types of events by fluorescence…
We show that all features of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum from 10^{17} eV to 10^{21} eV can be described with a simple power-like injection spectrum of protons under the assumption that the neutrino-nucleon cross-section is…
We examine the probability of proton-induced air showers at $E>10\,$EeV being misidentified as photon-induced due to neutral pions receiving a major part of the primary energy in the first interaction, thereby enhancing the electromagnetic…
Cosmic ray events above $10^{20}$ eV are on the verge of confronting fundamental particle physics. The neutrino is the only candidate primary among established particles capable of crossing 100 Mpc intergalactic distances unimpeded. The…
Some discrepancies have been reported between observed and simulated muon content of extensive air showers: the number of observed muons exceeded the expectations in HiRes-MIA, Yakutsk and Pierre Auger Observatory data. Here, we analyze the…
We obtain the horizontal air shower rate from the (EeV) high energy neutrino flux predicted in some topological defect scenarios as the source for the highest energy cosmic rays. Emphasis is made on the different character of the events…
It has been suggested that ultrahigh energy neutrinos can acquire cross-sections approaching hadronic size if the string scale is as low as 1-10 TeV. In this case, the vertical air showers observed with energies above the…
Fluctuations in the muon content of extensive air showers are anticorrelated to the fluctuations of the energy taken by the neutral pions which emerge from the first interaction of the cosmic ray in the atmosphere. We show that the…
In this paper we analyze the energy evolution of the muon content of air showers between $10^{18.4}$ and $10^{19.6}$ eV to be able to determine the most likely mass composition scenario from future number of muons measurements. The energy…
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…
The possibility exists that cosmic-ray neutrinos with energies of $\sim 10^{20}$ eV interact in the atmosphere with a cross section at the millibarn level, giving rise to some of the highest-energy air showers. In a specific dynamical model…
Many proposed and upcoming experiments seek to observe signals from upward going air showers initiated by tau leptons resulting from neutrino interactions inside the Earth. To save calculation time, event estimations for these observation…
Over the last two decades, various experiments have measured muon densities in extensive air showers over several orders of magnitude in primary energy. While some experiments observed differences in the muon densities between simulated and…
The development of extensive air showers at extreme energies is studied using a simulation model much simpler and cruder, but also more transparent and flexible, than existing sophisticated codes. Evidence for its satisfactory performance…