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 characterized by an overall normalization which depends on the primary particle and hadronic interaction model. We investigate the consequences of EAS universality for ground arrays, which sample EAS at large core distances, and show how universality can be used to experimentally determine the muon content as well as the primary energy of cosmic ray air showers in a model-independent way.
Initial results of a project to detect the radio-frequency pulse associated with extensive air showers of cosmic rays are described briefly. This work is being performed at the CASA/MIA array in Utah, with the intention of designing equipment that can be used in conjunction with the Auger Giant Array proposal.
A prototype system for detecting radio pulses associated with extensive cosmic ray air showers is described. Sensitivity is compared with that in previous experiments, and lessons are noted for future studies.
The shower simulation code CORSIKA has been used to investigate the electron energy and angular distributions in high-energy showers. Based on the universality of both distributions, we develop an analytical description of Cherenkov light emission in extensive air showers, which provides the total number and angular distribution of photons. The parameterisation can be used e.g. to calculate the contribution of direct and scattered Cherenkov light to shower profiles measured with the air fluorescence technique.
The determination of the shower development in air using fluorescence yield is subject to corrections due to the angular spread of the particles in the shower. This could introduce systematic errors in the energy determination of an extensive air shower through the fluorescence technique.
Cerenkov Telescopes and Scintillators set on a Crown-like arrays facing the Horizons may reveal far Cosmic Rays Showers, nearer Anti-Neutrino-Electron + Electron --> W- shower in air and upgoing Tau Neutrino + N--> tau + X, --> Shower, Earth-Skimming tau air-showers. Even UHE SUSY Chi + e--> Selectron--> Chi + e at tens PeVs-EeV energy may blaze at Horizons, as anti-neutrino electron at Glashow peak - Burst shower. We show first estimate on down and up-going Horizontal Showers traces for present and future Magic-like Crown Arrays and their correlated Scintillator-like twin Crown Arrays. The on…
Using air showers induced by TeV gamma-rays from Mrk 501, the radial distribution of Cherenkov light is investigated. The shower geometry is reconstructed from the stereoscopic shower images obtained with the telescopes of the HEGRA IACT system. We observe a change in the shape of the light pool with shower energy, and with zenith angle. Data are well reproduced by Monte-Carlo air shower simulations.
LOPES is set up at the location of the KASCADE-Grande extensive air shower experiment in Karlsruhe, Germany and aims to measure and investigate radio pulses from Extensive Air Showers. Data taken during half a year of operation of 10 LOPES antennas (LOPES-10), triggered by showers observed with KASCADE-Grande have been analyzed. We report about results of correlations found of the measured radio signals by LOPES-10 with shower parameters.
The air fluorescence technique has long been used to detect extensive air showers and to reconstruct its geometry and energy. The fluorescence photon yield of an electron in air is of main importance in the reconstruction procedure. Historically, the fluorescence yield used in the reconstruction of the showers is approximated at all energies by that of an electron with kinetic energy of 80 MeV, because these are the most abundant in a shower. In this paper, we calculate the fluorescence yield taking into account the energy spectrum of electrons in showers initiated by proton and iron nuclei as…
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 review hybrid approaches of air shower simulation which try to overcome this problem without giving rise to artificial fluctuations as generated by the thinning algorithm.
The IceCube neutrino detector is built into the Antarctic ice sheet at the South Pole to measure high energy neutrinos. For this, 4800 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are being deployed at depths between 1450 and 2450 meters into the ice to measure neutrino induced charged particles like muons. IceTop is a surface air shower detector consisting of 160 Cherenkov ice tanks located on top of IceCube. To extend IceTop, a radio air shower detector could be built to significantly increase the sensitivity at higher shower energies and for inclined showers. As air showers induced by cosmic rays are a maj…
A key assumption in the reconstruction of extensive air showers using the air fluorescence technique is the hypothesis that fluorescence is proportional to energy deposition at all depths in the shower. This ansatz, along with the supposition that particle distribution and energy loss can be well modeled by modern shower simulation software, must be thoroughly verified in order to validate the air fluorescence technique. We report here the results of the first direct measurement of air fluorescence yield as a function of shower depth, as performed in the thick-target phase of the FLASH (FLuore…
The seasonal variations of extensive air showers (EAS) registered at the Yakutsk EAS array are considered. The dependence of variations on the atmospheric pressure is significantly expressed. The dependence on an air temperature is not found.
We have developed a macroscopic description of coherent electro-magnetic radiation from air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays due to the presence of the geo-magnetic field. This description offers a simple and direct insight in the relation between the properties of the air shower and the time-structure of the radio pulse.
We have developed a macroscopic description of coherent electro-magnetic radiation from air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays in the presence of the geo-magnetic field. This description offers a simple and direct insight in the relation between the properties of the air shower and the time-structure of the radio pulse. As we show the structure of the pulse is a direct reflection of the important length scales in the shower.
The influence of the geomagnetic field on the development of air showers is studied. The well known International Geomagnetic Reference Field was included in the AIRES air shower simulation program as an auxiliary tool to allow calculating very accurate estimations of the geomagnetic field given the geographic coordinates, altitude above sea level and date of a given event. Some test simulations made for representative cases indicate that some quantities like the lateral distribution of muons experiment significant modifications when the geomagnetic field is taken into account.
In this report a summary of recent developments in the fields of high-energy nuclear interactions (HE 1) and air shower phenomenology (HE 2) is presented. New results from accelerator and cosmic-ray experiments and the progress in the theoretical understanding and simulation are reviewed and their impact on air shower analysis is discussed.
A report on the characteristics of ultra-high energy air showers simulated with the AIRES program is presented. The AIRES system includes a fast simulating program which is an improved version of the well-known MOCCA program. The AIRES algorithms are briefly described and a series of results coming from the simulations are analyzed.
Horizontal and Upward air-showers are suppressed by deep atmosphere opacity and by the Earth shadows. In such noise-free horizontal and upward directions rare Ultra High Cosmic rays and rarer neutrino induced air-showers may shine, mostly mediated by resonant PeVs interactions in air or by higher energy Tau Air-showers originated by neutrino tau skimming the Earth. At high altitude (mountains, planes, balloons) the air density is so rarefied that nearly all common air-showers might be observed at their maximal growth at a tuned altitude and directions. The arrival angle samples different dista…
LOPES (LOFAR Prototype Station) is an array of dipole antennas used for detection of radio emission from air showers. It is co-located and triggered by the KASCADE (Karlsruhe Shower Core and Array Detector) experiment, which also provides informations about air shower properties. Even though neither LOPES nor KASCADE are completely optimized for the detection of highly inclined events, a significant number of showers with zenith angle larger than 50$^o$ have been detected in the radio domain, and many with very high field strengths. Investigation of inclined showers can give deeper insight int…
A new Air Shower Observatory has been constructed in Buenos Aires during 1999, and commissioned and set in operation in 2000. The observatory consists of an array of four water Čerenkov detectors, enclosing a geometrical area of $\sim$ 30.000 m$^{2}$, and is optimized for the observation of cosmic rays in the ``knee'' energy region. The array detects $\sim$ 250 to $\sim$ 1500 showers/day, depending on the selected triggering condition. In this paper, the design and construction of the array, and the automatic system for data adquisition, daily calibration, and monitoring, are described. Also, …
Extensive air showers of cosmic rays with energies above 5.10**18 eV registered by the Yakutsk array have been analyzed. The existence of showers without muon component is found. Among them we found 5 clusters and these clusters correlate with nearest pulsars. It is found that there exist 4 classes of showers. Showers with high content of muons are mainly observed at E> 4.10**19 eV and they are formed most likely by heavy nuclei.
The KASKADE and CORSIKA air shower generators are compared to the data collected by MASS2 balloon experiment in 1991. The test of longitudinal profile for proton, helium and muon flux production provide good constraints on these air shower generators. KASKADE and CORSIKA especially with the new simulator UrQMD for low energies are found to fit these data well. This study is limited to a comparison of longitudinal profiles and therefore does not provide constraints on the overall shower development.
Radio emission from cosmic ray air showers has the potential to become an additional, cost-effective observing technique for cosmic ray research, being largely complementary to the well-established particle detector and air fluorescence techniques. We present Monte Carlo simulatios of radio emission from extensive air showers in the scheme of coherent geosynchrotron radiation from electron-positron pairs gyrating in the earth's magnetic field. Preliminary results of our simulations are the predicted frequency, primary particle energy, shower zenith angle, shower azimuth angle and polarization …
As a basis for the interpretation of data gathered by LOPES and other experiments, we have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of geosynchrotron radio emission from cosmic ray air showers. The simulations, having been verified carefully with analytical calculations, reveal a wealth of information on the characteristics of the radio signal and their dependence on specific air shower parameters. In this article, we review the spatial characteristics of the radio emission, its predicted frequency spectrum and its dependence on important air shower parameters such as the shower zenith angle, the p…
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 profile, the number of muons at detector level above several energy thresholds as well as the fluctuations of the electromagnetic and hadronic components of the shower. We study the main characteristics of proton-induced air showers up to ultra-high energy, comparing the predictions of three different hadronic interaction models: SIBYLL 1.7, SIBYLL 2.1 and QGSjet98…
Simulations of radio emission from extensive air showers we have published so far were performed with a Monte Carlo code using analytical parametrisations to describe the spatial, temporal, energy and angular particle distributions in the air shower. A new version of our simulation code, which replaces these parametrisations with precise, multi-dimensional histograms derived from per-shower CORSIKA simulations, is now available. The new code allows an independent selection between parametrisation and histogram for each of the relevant distributions, enabling us to study the changes arising fro…
Most calculations of air shower development have been based on the Bethe-Heitler cross sections for bremsstrahlung and pair production. However, for energetic enough particles, a number of different external factors can reduce these cross sections drastically, slowing shower development and lengthening the showers. Four mechanisms that can suppress bremsstrahlung and pair production cross sections are discussed, and their effect on extremely high energy air showers considered. Besides lengthening the showers, these mechanisms greatly increase the importance of fluctuations in shower developmen…
We present simulations performed with REAS2, a new Monte Carlo code for the calculation of geosynchrotron radio emission from extensive air showers. The code uses thoroughly tested time-domain radio emission routines in conjunction with a realistic air shower model based on per-shower multi-dimensional CORSIKA-generated histograms. We assess in detail how the transition from simpler, parametrised, to realistic, CORSIKA-based particle distributions affects the predicted radio emission from a typical 10^17 eV air shower. The effects of eliminating a previously needed free parameter and adopting …
A report on the characteristics of ultra-high energy air showers simulated with the current version of the AIRES program is presented. The AIRES system includes a fast simulating program, originally designed on the basis of the well-known MOCCA program, and progressively improved and tested. The AIRES algorithms are briefly described and some results coming from the simulations are analyzed.
We summarise some basic issues relevant to the optimisation and design of space-based experiments for the observation of the Extensive Air Showers produced by Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Particles interacting with the atmosphere. A number of basic relations is derived and discussed with a twofold goal: defining requirements for the experimental apparatus and estimating the exptected performance.
For most of the Ultra-High-Energy-Cosmic-Ray (UHECR) experiments and projects (HiRes, AUGER, TA, JEM-EUSO, TUS,...), the detection technique of Extensive Air Showers is based, at least, on the measurement of the air-fluorescence-induced signal. The knowledge of the Fluorescence-Light Yield (FLY) is of paramount importance for the UHECR energy reconstruction. The MACFLY experiment was designed to perform absolute measurements of the air FLY and to study its properties. Here, we report the result of measurement of dry-air FLY induced by 50 GeV electromagnetic showers as a function of the shower …
Interpretation of EAS measurements strongly depends on detailed air shower simulations. The uncertainty in the prediction of shower observables for different primary particles and energies is currently dominated by differences between hadronic interaction models. The new models QGSJETII-3 and EPOS 1.6, which reproduce all major results of existing accelerator data (including detailed data of RHIC experiments for EPOS), have been implemented in the air shower simulation programs CORSIKA and CONEX. We show predictions of these new models and compare them with those from older models such as QGSJ…
In air shower experiments information about the initial cosmic ray particle or about the shower development is obtained by exploiting the correlations between the quantities of interest and the directly measurable quantities. It is shown how these correlations are properly treated in order to obtain unbiased results. As an example, the measurement of the average penetration depth as a function of the shower energy is presented.
The rate of events measured with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory is found to be modulated by the weather conditions. This effect is due to the increasing amount of matter traversed by the shower as the ground pressure increases and to the inverse proportionality of the Moliere radius to the air density near ground. Air-shower simulations with different realistic profiles of the atmosphere support this interpretation of the observed effects.
Spatial distributions of energy deposited by an extensive air shower in the atmosphere through ionization, as obtained from the CORSIKA simulation program, are used to find the fluorescence light distribution in the optical image of the shower. The shower image derived in this way is somewhat smaller than that obtained from the NKG lateral distribution of particles in the shower. The size of the image shows a small dependence on the primary particle type.
Fluorescence light is induced by extensive air showers while developing in the Earth's atmosphere. The number of emitted fluorescence photons depends on the conditions of the air and on the energy deposited by the shower particles at every stage of the development. In a previous model calculation, the pressure and temperature dependences of the fluorescence yield have been studied on the basis of kinetic gas theory, assuming temperature-independent molecular collision cross-sections. In this work we investigate the importance of temperature-dependent collision cross-sections and of water vapou…
Data taken during half a year of operation of 10 LOPES antennas (LOPES-10), triggered by EAS observed with KASCADE-Grande have been analysed. We report about the analysis of correlations of radio signals measured by LOPES-10 with extensive air shower events reconstructed by KASCADE-Grande, including shower cores at large distances. The efficiency of detecting radio signals induced by air showers up to distances of 700 m from the shower axis has been investigated. The results are discussed with special emphasis on the effects of the reconstruction accuracy for shower core and arrival direction …
The objective of this work is to report on the modifications in air shower development due to muon bremsstrahlung and muonic pair production. In order to do that we have implemented new muon bremsstrahlung and muonic pair production procedures in the AIRES air shower simulation system, and have used it to simulate ultra high energy showers in different conditions. The influence of the mentioned processes in the global development of the air shower is important for primary particles of large zenith angles, while they do not introduce significant changes in the position of the shower maximum.
Recent results of the KASCADE air shower experiment are presented in order to shed some light on the astrophysics of cosmic rays in the region of the knee in the energy spectrum. The results include investigations of high-energy interactions in the atmosphere, the analysis of the arrival directions of cosmic rays, the determination of the mean logarithmic mass, and the unfolding of energy spectra for elemental groups.
The new hadronic Monte Carlo model QGSJET-II is applied for extensive air shower (EAS) calculations. The obtained results are compared to the predictions of the original QGSJET and of the SIBYLL 2.1 interaction models. It is shown that non-linear effects change substantially model predictions for hadron-nucleus interactions and produce observable effects for calculated EAS characteristics. Finally the impact of the new model on the interpretation of air shower array data is discussed.
Since 1996, a hybrid experiment consisting of an emulsion chamber and a burst detector array and the Tibet-II air shower array has been operated at Yangbajing (4300 m above sea level) in Tibet. This experiment can detect air-shower cores, called burst events, accompanied by air showers in excess of about 100 TeV. Using the burst event data observed by this experiment, we discuss the primary cosmic ray composition around the knee in comparison with the Monte Carlo simulations. In this paper, we show that all the features of burst events are wholly compatible with the heavy enriched composition …
The Tibet experiment, operating at Yangbajing (4,300 m above sea level), is the lowest energy air shower array and the new high density array constructed in 1996 has sensitivity to $γ$-ray air showers at energies as low as 3 TeV. With this new array, the Crab Nebula was observed in multi-TeV $γ$-rays and a signal was detected at the 5.5 $σ$ level. We also obtained the energy spectrum of $γ$-rays in the energy region above 3 TeV which partially overlaps those observed with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. This is the first observation of $γ$-ray signals from point sources with a conven…
An analysis of the influence of the Landau-Migdal-Pomeranchuck (LPM) effect on the development of air showers initiated by astroparticles, is presented. By means of computer simulations using algorithms that emulate Migdal's theory, including also the so-called dielectric suppression, we study the behaviour of the relevant observables in the case of ultra high energy primaries. We find that the LPM effect can significantly modify the development of high energy electromagnetic showers.
The light intensity distribution in a shower image and its implications to the primary energy reconstructed by the fluorescence technique are studied. Based on detailed CORSIKA energy deposit simulations, a universal analytical formula is derived for the lateral distribution of light in the shower image and a correction factor is obtained to account for the fraction of shower light falling into outlying pixels in the detector. The expected light profiles and the corresponding correction of the primary shower energy are illustrated for several typical event geometries. This correction of the sh…
Some performances of the present CODALEMA experiment, set up to analyse radio-detected Extensive Air Shower (EAS) events, are presented. Characteristics of the EAS electric field distribution sampled on a 600~m long axis are discussed.
Air fluorescence measurements of cosmic ray energy must be corrected for attenuation of the atmosphere. In this paper we show that the air-showers themselves can yield a measurement of the aerosol attenuation in terms of optical depth, time-averaged over extended periods. Although the technique lacks statistical power to make the critical hourly measurements that only specialized active instruments can achieve, we note the technique does not depend on absolute calibration of the detector hardware, and requires no additional equipment beyond the fluorescence detectors that observe the air showe…
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 radar echoes are produced by scattering from the column of ionized air produced by the shower. The idea has remained curiously untested since it was proposed, but if our analysis is correct, such techniques could provide a significant alternative approach to air shower detection in a standalone array with high duty cycle, and might provide highly complement…
The current status and prospects of deducing the proton-air cross section from fluorescence telescope measurements of extensive air showers are discussed. As it is not possible to observe the point of first interaction, $X_ {\rm 1}$, directly, other observables closely linked to $X_{\rm 1}$ must be inferred from the measured longitudinal profiles. This introduces a dependence on the models used to describe the shower development. Systematic uncertainties arising from this model dependence, from the reconstruction method itself and from a possible non-proton contamination of the selected shower…
When Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays interact with particles in the Earth's atmosphere, they produce a shower of secondary particles propagating toward the ground. LOPES-30 is an absolutely calibrated array of 30 dipole antennas investigating the radio emission from these showers in detail and clarifying if the technique is useful for largescale applications. LOPES-30 is co-located and measures in coincidence with the air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande. Status of LOPES-30 and first measurements are presented.
The ultrahigh energy tail of the cosmic ray spectrum has been explored with unprecedented detail. For this reason, new experiments are exerting a severe pressure on extensive air shower modeling. Detailed fast codes are in need in order to extract and understand the richness of information now available. In this sense we explore the potential of SENECA, an efficient hybrid tridimensional simulation code, as a valid practical alternative to full Monte Carlo simulations of extensive air showers generated by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We discuss the influence of this approach on the main longi…
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 analytical evaluation of the muon density profiles at ground level. The results of the first application of these results to horizontal air showers detected at the Haverah Park Array by the recently started {\sl Leeds-Santiago collaboration}, leading to important restrictions on composition at ultra high energies, are reported.
We present a framework for the study of muon density patterns on the ground due to showers produced in the atmosphere by cosmic rays incident at high zenith angles. As a checking procedure predictions of a model based on such a framework are compared to simulation results.
A procedure is suggested for systematically narrowing the choice of possible primaries for (UHECR) air showers with energies beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min cut-off of $4 \times 10^{19} eV$.
Milagrito, a large, covered water-Cherenkov detector, was the world's first air-shower-particle detector sensitive to cosmic gamma rays below 1 TeV. It served as a prototype for the Milagro detector and operated from February 1997 to May 1998. This paper gives a description of Milagrito, a summary of the operating experience, and early results that demonstrate the capabilities of this technique.
Detailed investigations of extensive air showers have been performed with the data measured by the KASCADE experiment. The results allow to evaluate hadronic interaction models, used in simulations to interpret air shower data. The all-particle spectrum of cosmic rays and their mass composition, as well as individual spectra for groups of elements have been reconstructed. The results suggest, the knee in the all-particle cosmic--ray energy spectrum is caused by a rigidity-dependent cut-off of individual element groups.
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 presented. We describe the hadronic interaction models used to extrapolate results from collider data to ultra high energies, an also the main electromagnetic processes that govern the longitudinal shower evolution as well as the lateral spread of particles.
The influence of the geomagnetic field on the development of air showers is studied. The well known International Geomagnetic Reference Field was included in the AIRES air shower simulation program as an auxiliary tool to allow calculating very accurate estimations of the geomagnetic field given the geographic coordinates, altitude above sea level and date of a given event. Our simulations indicate that the geomagnetic deflections alter significantly some shower observables like, for example, the lateral distribution of muons in the case of events with large zenith angles (larger than 75 degre…
The water-Cherenkov tanks of the Pierre Auger Observatory can detect particles at all zenith angles and are therefore well-suited for the study of inclined and horizontal air showers (60 - 90 degrees). Such showers are characterised by a dominance of the muonic component at ground, and by a very elongated and asymmetrical footprint which can even exhibit a lobular structure due to the bending action of the geomagnetic field. Dedicated algorithms for the selection and reconstruction of such events, as well as the corresponding acceptance calculation, have been set up on basis of muon maps obtai…
LOPES-10 (the first phase of LOPES, consisting of 10 antennas) detected a significant number of cosmic ray air showers with a zenith angle larger than 50$^{\circ}$, and many of these have very high radio field strengths. The most inclined event that has been detected with LOPES-10 has a zenith angle of almost 80$^{\circ}$. This is proof that the new technique is also applicable for cosmic ray air showers with high inclinations, which in the case that they are initiated close to the ground, can be a signature of neutrino events.Our results indicate that arrays of simple radio antennas can be us…
