Extensive air showers

Summary In the following report, we shall have a look at the new results presented at this Conference, obtained using EAS investigations, and the progress made in the years since the last ICRC. We shall only touch upon our understanding of the phenomenology of EAS and its bearing on astrophysics, like the energy spectrum, composition and anisotropy of the primaries of EAS, leaving the other important application of EAS studies with respect to the problem of UHE interactions to others. Rapporteur talk given at the XXIV International Cosmic-Ray Conference, Rome, August 28–September 8, 1995.     

Extensive air showers and Feynman scaling above 1000 GeV

We describe a method for using extensive air shower data to determine whether a Feynman scaling limit exists in the central region for inclusive cross sections. Preliminary analysis suggests that the shower muon to electron ratio is more consistent with a power law increase of pion multiplicity with energy than with the logarithmic multiplicity increase characteristic of a scaling limit, but an analysis of the intra-nuclear cascade is required to reach a firm conclusion.     

Anomalous extensive air showers of ultrahigh energies and their arrival directions

Extensive air showers (EASs) of energy above 8×10¹⁸ eV observed from 1974 to 1995 on the Yakutsk EAS array are analyzed. Showers without muonic component are found. From the arrival directions of these showers, two clusters were found, one of which coincides, within the error bars, with a pulsar in the Milky Way Galaxy.     

Methods for estimating the energy of extensive air showers

A multilevel scheme for calculating estimates of the energy of extensive air showers on the basis of signals in different detectors is considered. The numerical energy estimates at specified values of signals in scintillation detectors are smaller than the experimental ones by a factor of about 1.6. The results of the calculation confirmed that the total flux of Cherenkov light is proportional to the shower energy. The flux of fluorescent light generated within 100 m from the shower core is due to only 60% of the total energy.     

Cosmic ray energy spectrum from measurements of air showers

This review focuses on high-energy cosmic rays in the PeV energy range and above. Of particular interest is the knee of the spectrum around 3 PeV and the transition from cosmic rays of Galactic origin to particles from extra-galactic sources. Our goal is to establish a baseline spectrum from 1014 to 10^20 eV by combining the results of many measurements at different energies. In combination with measurements of the nuclear composition of the primaries, the shape of the energy spectrum places constraints on the number and spectra of sources that may contribute to the observed spectrum.     

Cosmic ray air showers in the knee energy region

The cosmic ray extensive air showers in the knee energy region have been studied by the North Bengal University array. The differential size spectra at different atmospheric depths show a systematic shift of the knee towards smaller shower size with the increase in atmospheric depth. The measured values of spectral indices at below and above the knee are −2.45 ±0.03 and −2.91 ±0.05 respectively. Measurements at different atmospheric depths correspond to the same values within the error limits both for below and above the knee. The present experimental results have been compared with similar such experiments     

Delayed muons in extensive air showers and double-front showers

The results of a long-term experiment performed in the period between 1995 and 2006 with the aid of the MUON-T underground (20 mwe) scintillation facility arranged at the Tien Shan mountain research station at an altitude of 3340 m above sea level are presented. The time distribution of delayed muons with an energy in excess of 5 GeV in extensive air showers of energy not lower than 106 GeV with respect to the shower front was obtained with a high statistical significance in the delay interval between 30 and 150 ns. An effect of the geomagnetic field in detecting delayed muons in extensive air showers was discovered. This effect leads to the asymmetry of their appearance with respect to the north-south direction. The connection between delayed muons and extensive air showers featuring two fronts separated by a time interval of several tens of to two hundred nanoseconds is discussed. This connection gives sufficient grounds to assume that delayed muons originate from the decays of pions and kaons produced in the second, delayed, front of extensive air showers.     

Neutron multiplicity: Local hadronic showers and extensive air showers

A detailed analysis of events with neutron multiplicity M = 3−30 on neutron monitors (NMs) in Barentsburg (Spitsbergen), Baksan (North Caucasus), and Apatity (Murmansk region) is performed on the data obtained using a unique new data collection system. It is now possible for the first time to register local showers in cosmic rays on NMs and to investigate their structure with a high precision. Multiplicity on NMs is simulated using the GEANT4 Monte Carlo toolkit. Local hadronic cascades in the atmosphere with transverse sizes of 1 to 6 m were observed for the first time using the NM data. NM multiplicity generated by EAS hadronic cascades is studied on the data set on coupling NMs with the CARPET EAS facility.     

Properties of giant air showers and the problem of estimating the primary-particle energy

The main errors in energy estimation in individual events detected at the Yakutsk EAS array are analyzed. The data on the fraction of muons are considered. For inclined showers with energies exceeding 10¹⁹ eV, it is much larger than the value given by approximation at lower energies. This difference may be due to new processes arising upon interaction between particles with such energies, which leads to a significant increase in the muon component in the total primary-particle energy.     

High-density QCD and cosmic-ray air showers

We discuss particle production in the high-energy, small-x limit of QCD where the gluon density of hadrons is expected to become nonperturbatively large. Strong modifications of the phase-space distribution of produced particles as compared to leading-twist models are predicted, which reflect in the properties of cosmic-ray induced air showers in the atmosphere. Assuming hadronic primaries, our results suggest a light composition near Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff energies. We also show that cosmic-ray data are sensitive to various QCD evolution scenarios for the rate of increase of the gluon density at small x, such as fixed-coupling and running-coupling Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov evolution. There are clear indications for a slower growth of the gluon density as compared to RHIC and HERA, due, e.g., to running-coupling effects.     

Neutrons in extensive air showers

The main properties of the so-called neutron bursts produced by the passage of extensive air showers (EASs) through a detector array and the properties of these EASs are considered using the experiments that are being or have been carried out previously with the Carpet-2 array at Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, and at Cosmic-Ray Station of UNAM in Mexico as examples. We show that no exotic processes are required to explain the nature of neutron bursts. Based on a working prototype of the previously proposed MULTICOM array, we also show that this phenomenon can be successfully used in studying the EAS hadronic component and that adding special thermal neutron detectors can improve significantly the capabilities of the array for EAS study.     

Neutrons in extensive air showers

The first results of measurements of the thermal-neutron flux in extensive air showers (EASs) using an unshielded scintillation thermal-neutron detector in the Multicom prototype array at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research are reported. The operating capacity of the new method for studying the EAS hadron component via detection of thermal neutrons and good prospects of this method are demonstrated.     

Networks in extensive air showers

Extensive air showers are produced when high energy cosmic rays or γ$\gamma$-rays enter from the top of the atmosphere. Extensive air showers are multi-fractal in nature and in this paper we explore the topological properties of these showers. We show that the topology of extensive air showers has an exponential distribution which may arise due to the inherent tree structure character of its passage in the atmosphere.     

Employing cherenkov radiation and fluorescence light in calibrating the energy of giant air showers

A classic procedure for estimating the energy of giant air showers in terms of the parameter s(600) (density of energy deposition in a scintillator at a distance of 600 m from the shower axis) is analyzed on the basis of the model of quark-gluon strings. A simulation of the signal s(600) by means of the CORSIKA code leads to estimates of energy that are approximately 1.6 times lower than those adopted at the Yakutsk array. Estimates of energy on the basis of Cherenkov radiation agree with experimental data within the errors. Calculations of the distributions of energy deposited in the atmosphere indicate that more than 20% of this energy can be deposited at distances in excess of 100 m from the shower axis.     

High energy physics in the atmosphere: phenomenology of cosmic ray air showers

The properties of cosmic rays with energies above 10⁶ GeV have to be deduced from the spacetime structure and particle content of the air showers which they initiate. In this review we summarize the phenomenology of these giant air showers. We describe the hadronic interaction models used to extrapolate results from collider data to ultra high energies, and discuss the prospects for insights into forward physics at the LHC. We also describe the main electromagnetic processes that govern the longitudinal shower evolution, as well as the lateral spread of particles. Armed with these two principal shower ingredients and motivation from the underlying physics, we provide an overview of some of the different methods proposed to distinguish primary species. The properties of neutrino interactions and the potential of forthcoming experiments to isolate deeply penetrating showers from baryonic cascades are also discussed. We finally venture into a terra incognita endowed with TeV-scale gravity and explore anomalous neutrino-induced showers.     

Longitudinal development of giant air showers and problem of estimating the energy of primary-cosmic-ray particles

The attenuation length for the charged-particle density at a distance of 600 m from the shower axis may differ from that adopted in experimental investigations by 40–50%. This casts some doubt on experimental estimates previously obtained for the energy of primary-cosmic-ray particles in the region of ultrahigh energies.     

Observation of double extensive air showers

Double extensive air showers were studied at the Tien Shan high-mountain scientific station of the Lebedev Physical Institute using two different installations. One measured the electron-photon shower component, the other measured Cherenkov radiation. Double showers separated by a time interval of ～100 ns were detected by both setups. The frequency of the occurrence of such showers in each setup is analyzed. It is shown that these frequencies are identical when observing vertical showers (the zenith angle ? < 60°).     

Critical energy of anomalous electron-induced showers

The results of experimental studies of anomalous electromagnetic showers caused by electrons with energies of tens of GeV, emerging from oriented tungsten crystals and detected by an electromagnetic spectrometer, are presented. An approximately twofold increase in the critical energy ? _c of the anomalous shower development in comparison with the similar quantity in the case of the standard shower development is detected. Its behavior is studied as a function of the crystal orientation, thickness, temperature, and the electron energy.     

Coherent Cherenkov radiation from cosmic-ray-induced air showers

Very energetic cosmic rays entering the atmosphere of Earth will create a plasma cloud moving with almost the speed of light. The magnetic field of Earth induces an electric current in this cloud which is responsible for the emission of coherent electromagnetic radiation. We propose to search for a new effect: Because of the index of refraction of air, this radiation is collimated in a Cherenkov cone. To express the difference from usual Cherenkov radiation, i.e., the emission from a fast-moving electric charge, we call this magnetically induced Cherenkov radiation. We indicate its signature and possible experimental verification.     

Radio emission of extensive air showers as a method for detecting ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Recording radio emission from extensive air showers (EASs) is considered now as a new promising method for detecting ultra-high energy (E ₀ > 5 × 10¹⁶ eV) cosmic rays. The results of calculation of EAS radio emission at frequencies from 40 to 80 MHz in the EAS energy range E ₀ = 10¹⁴–10¹⁷ eV are reported here, and the possibilities of determining EAS parameters from the radio emission lateral distribution are discussed.