Search

The extensive air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array DEtector and Grande array) is located on site of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in Germany. The original KASCADE experiment consisted of a densely packed scintillator array with unshielded and shielded detectors for the measurement of the electromagnetic and muonic shower component independently, as well as muon tracking devices and a hadron calorimeter. The Grande array as an extension of KASCADE consists of 37 scintillation detector stations covering an area of 700×700 m2. The main goal for the combined measurements of KASCADE and Grande is the investigation of the energy spectrum and composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range of 1016 to 1018 eV. In this paper an overview of the KASCADE-Grande experiment and recent results will be presented.

International audience; A large area (128 m) muon tracking detector, located within the KASCADE experiment, has been built with the aim to identify muons (E> 0.8 GeV) and their angular correlation in extensive air showers by track measurements under 18 r.l. shielding. Orientation of the muon track with respect to the shower axis is expressed in terms of the radial and tangential angles, which are the basic tools for all muon investigations with the tracking detector. By means of triangulation the muon production height is determined. Distributions of measured production heights are compared to CORSIKA shower simulations. Analysis of these heights reveals a transition from light to heavy cosmic ray primary particles with increasing shower energy in the energy region of the 'Knee' of the cosmic ray spectrum.

TeV gamma rays have been observed from blazars as well as from radio galaxies like M 87 and Centaurus A. In leptonic models, gamma rays above the pair production threshold can escape from the ultrarelativistic jet, because large Lorentz factors reduce the background photon densities compared to those required for isotropic emission. Here we discuss an alternative scenario, where very high energy photons are generated as secondaries from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays interactions in the cores of active galactic nuclei. We show that TeV gamma-rays can escape from the core despite large infrared and ultraviolet backgrounds. For the special case of Centaurus A, we study whether the various existing observations from the far infrared to the ultrahigh energy range can be reconciled within this picture.

A large area (128m2) Muon Tracking Detector (MTD), located within the KASCADE experiment, has been built with the aim to identify muons ( E μ > 0.8 GeV ) and their directions in extensive air showers by track measurements under more than 18 r.l. shielding. The orientation of the muon track with respect to the shower axis is expressed in terms of the radial- and tangential angles. By means of triangulation the muon production height H μ is determined. By means of H μ , a transition from light to heavy cosmic ray primary particles with increasing shower energy E o from 1–10 PeV is observed.

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air shower experiment at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. Main parts of the experiment are the Grande array spread over an area of 700 × 700 m 2 , the original KASCADE array covering 200 × 200 m 2 with unshielded and shielded detectors, and additional muon tracking devices. This multi-detector system allows to investigate the energy spectrum, composition, and anisotropies of cosmic rays in the energy range up to 1 EeV. An overview on the performance of the apparatus and first results will be given.

A new version of the QGSJET-II model is presented. The basic improvement, compared to the earlier treatment, is connected to taking into consideration an additional class of enhanced Pomeron diagrams – Pomeron loop contributions. The basic formalism is discussed and the model results for characteristics of hadronic interactions and for air shower development are investigated.

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 well beyond todays accelerator capabilities. Therefore, accurate measurements of air showers are used to constrain modern models to describe high-energy hadronic interactions. The results obtained are complementary to information gained at accelerators and add to our understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions.

We calculated for the nearest active galactic nucleus (AGN), Centaurus A (Cen A), the flux of high energy cosmic rays and of accompanying secondary photons and neutrinos expected from hadronic interactions in the source. We used as two basic models for the generation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR) shock acceleration in the radio jet and acceleration in the regular electromagnetic field close to the core of the AGN, normalizing the UHECR flux to the observations of the Auger experiment. Here we compare the previously obtained photon fluxes with the recent data reported by the Fermi LAT and H.E.S.S. collaborations. In the case of the core model, we find good agreement both for the predicted spectral shape and the overall normalization between our earlier results and the H.E.S.S. observations for a primary proton energy $dN/dE\propto E^{-\alpha}$ with $\alpha\sim 2$ or smaller. A broken-power law with high-energy part $\alpha=-2.7$ leads to photon fluxes in excess of the Fermi measurements. The energy spectrum of the photon fluxes obtained by us for the jet scenario is in all cases at variance with the H.E.S.S. and Fermi observations., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the 2nd Heidelberg Workshop "High-Energy Gamma-rays and Neutrinos from Extra-Galactic Sources"

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air-shower experiment located at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. Main parts of the experiment are the Grande array spread over an area of 700 × 700 m 2 , the original KASCADE array covering 200 × 200 m 2 with unshielded and shielded detectors, and additional muon tracking devices. This multi-detector system allows to investigate the energy spectrum, composition, and anisotropies of cosmic rays in the energy range up to 1 EeV. LOPES is co-located at the same site to measure radio pulses from extensive air showers in coincidence with KASCADE-Grande. It consists of 30 digital antennas operated in different geometrical configurations. Read out is performed at high bandwidths and rate data processing with the aim to calibrate the emitted signal in the primary energy range of 10 16 − 10 18 eV by making use of reconstructed air-shower observables of KASCADE-Grande. An overview on the performance of both experiments will be given and recent analysis results be reported.

The KASCADE-Grande experiment, located at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany), is a multi-component extensive air-shower experiment to study cosmic rays and their interactions at primary energies 10 14 –10 18 eV. After detailed investigations of the knee in the spectrum with KASCADE and EAS-TOP experiments, the main goal of KASCADE-Grande is to provide conclusive results on the knee region by detecting the expected iron knee in the spectrum at around 10 17 eV, and measuring the composition in the possible transition region between galactic and extragalactic components. Due to its multi-component characteristics, basically the former KASCADE experiment enriched by two new arrays of scintillator detectors (Grande and Piccolo), with the aim of providing a large acceptance area (0.5 km 2 ) and prompt trigger signal, KASCADE-Grande is a suitable array to provide refined measurements in the 10 16 –10 18 eV region. In the following, we briefly report on the characteristics of the detector, its performance, and first results based on 2 years of data taking. r 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 95.85.Ry

The status of present theoretical description of very high energy hadronic interactions is reviewed. The impact of new results of accelerator and cosmic ray experiments on hadronic interaction model constructions is discussed in detail. Special attention is payed to remaining uncertainties in model extrapolations into the ultra-high energy domain, in particular, concerning model predictions for the muon component of extensive air showers. New promising theoretical approaches are outlined and future experimental prospects are discussed.

In the last few years, radio detection of cosmic ray air showers has experienced a true renaissance, becoming manifest in a number of new experiments and simulation efforts. In particular, the LOPES project has successfully implemented modern interferometric methods to measure the radio emission from extensive air showers. LOPES has confirmed that the emission is coherent and of geomagnetic origin, as expected by the geosynchrotron mechanism, and has demonstrated that a large scale application of the radio technique has great potential to complement current measurements of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We describe the current status, most recent results and open questions regarding radio detection of cosmic rays and give an overview of ongoing research and development for an application of the radio technique in the framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory., 8 pages; Proceedings of the CRIS2006 conference, Catania, Italy; to be published in Nuclear Physics B, Proceedings Supplements

Contains fulltext : 36387.pdf ( ) (Open Access) Contains fulltext : 36387.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Aims.The capability of radio antenna arrays to measure cosmic ray air showers with very large zenith angles is explored. This is important, since a possible neutrino detection has to fulfill two requirements. First: antennas should be able to detect very inclined cosmic ray air showers, and second: it should be possible to estimate the distance to the shower maximum, since neutrinos are most likely to travel far through the Earth's atmosphere without interaction and induce air showers close to the ground. Methods: LOPES (LOFAR PrototypE Station; LOFAR - LOw Frequency ARray), an array of dipole antennas, is used for the detection of inclined cosmic ray air showers. LOPES is co-located and triggered by the KASCADE (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array DEtector) experiment, which also provides information on air shower properties such as electron and muon numbers on the ground, as well as the arrival direction. Radio emission of nearly vertical cosmic ray air showers has been detected by LOPES. Results: 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°, 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°. 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. Conclusions: .Our results indicate that arrays of simple radio antennas can be used for the detection of highly inclined air showers, which might be triggered by neutrinos. In addition, we found that the radio pulse height (normalized with the muon number) for highly inclined events increases with the geomagnetic angle, which confirms the geomagnetic origin of radio emission in cosmic ray air showers.

A dramatic increase in the accuracy and statistics of space-borne cosmic ray (CR) measurements has yielded several breakthroughs over the last several years. The most puzzling is the rise in the positron fraction above ~10 GeV over the predictions of the propagation models assuming pure secondary production. The accuracy of the antiproton production cross section is critical for astrophysical applications and searches for new physics since antiprotons in CRs seem to hold the keys to many puzzles including the origin of those excess positrons. However, model calculations of antiproton production in CR interactions with interstellar gas are often employing parameterizations that are out of date or are using outdated physical concepts. That may lead to an incorrect interpretation of antiproton data which could have broad consequences for other areas of astrophysics. In this work, we calculate antiproton production in pp-, pA-, and AA-interactions using EPOS-LHC and QGSJET-II-04, two of the most advanced Monte Carlo (MC) generators tuned to numerous accelerator data including those from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We show that the antiproton yields obtained with these MC generators differ by up to an order of magnitude from yields of parameterizations commonly used in astrophysics., 16 pages (emulateapj style), 18 figures, 2 tables; The Astrophysical Journal, in press

KASCADE-Grande is an air-shower observatory devoted to the detection of cosmic rays with energies in the range of 1016 to 1018 eV. This energy region is of particular interest for the cosmic ray astrophysics, since it is the place where some models predict the existence of a transition from galactic to extragalactic origin of cosmic rays and the presence of a break in the flux of its heavy component. The detection of these features requires detailed and simultaneous measurements of the energy and composition of cosmic rays with sufficient statistics. These kinds of studies are possible for the first time in KASCADE-Grande due to the accurate measurements of several air-shower observables, i.e., the number of charged particles, electrons and muons in the shower, using the different detector systems of the observatory. In this contribution, a detailed look into the composition of 1016 — 1018 eV cosmic rays with KASCADE-Grande is presented.

The KASCADE experiment and its extension KASCADE-Grande have significantly contributed to the current knowledge about the energy spectrum and composition of cosmic rays (CRs) with energies between the knee and the ankle. However, the data of both experiments were analysed separately, although Grande used the muon information of the KASCADE-array. A coherent analysis based on the combined data of both arrays is expected to profit from reconstructed shower observables with even higher accuracy compared to the stand-alone analyses. In addition, a significantly larger fiducial area is available. The aim of this analysis is to obtain the spectrum and composition of CRs in the range from 1014 to 1018 eV with a larger number of events and further reduced uncertainties using one unique reconstruction procedure for the entire energy range. This contribution will describe the motivation, the concept, and the current status of the combined analysis.

KCDC, the KASCADE Cosmic-ray Data Centre, is a web portal, where data of astroparticle physics experiments will be made available for the interested public. The KASCADE experiment, financed by public money, was a large-area detector for the measurement of high-energy cosmic rays via the detection of air showers. KASCADE and its extension KASCADE-Grande stopped finally the active data acquisition of all its components including the radio EAS experiment LOPES end of 2012 after more than 20 years of data taking. In a first release, with KCDC we provide to the public the measured and reconstructed parameters of more than 160 million air showers. In addition, KCDC provides the conceptional design, how the data can be treated and processed so that they are also usable outside the community of experts in the research field. Detailed educational examples make a use also possible for high-school students and early stage researchers., Comment: 8 pages, accepted proceeding of the ECRS-symposium, Kiel, 2014

In previous studies of KASCADE-Grande data, a Monte Carlo simulation code based on the GEANT3 program has been developed to describe the energy deposited by EAS particles in the detector stations. In an attempt to decrease the simulation time and ensure compatibility with the geometry description in standard KASCADE-Grande analysis software, several structural elements have been neglected in the implementation of the Grande station geometry. To improve the agreement between experimental and simulated data, a more accurate simulation of the response of the KASCADE-Grande detector is necessary. A new simulation code has been developed based on the GEANT4 program, including a realistic geometry of the detector station with structural elements that have not been considered in previous studies. The new code is used to study the influence of a realistic detector geometry on the energy deposited in the Grande detector stations by particles from EAS events simulated by CORSIKA. Lateral Energy Correction Functions are determined and compared with previous results based on GEANT3.

KASCADE-Grande was an air-shower experiment designed to study cosmic rays between 1016 and 1018 eV. The instrument was located at the site of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany at an altitude of 110 m a.s.l. and covered an area of 0.5 km2. KASCADE-Grande consisted of several detector systems dedicated to measure different components of the EAS generated by the primary cosmic rays, i.e., the muon and the electron contents of the air-shower. With such a number of EAS observables and the precision of the measurements, the KASCADE-Grande data can be used to not only study in detail the properties of cosmic rays but also to test the predictions of hadronic-interaction models. In this work, in particular, the attenuation lengths of the muon number and the charged number of particles of EAS in the atmosphere were extracted from the KASCADE-Grande data and the results were compared with the predictions of the new EPOS-LHC hadronic-interaction model.

The shape and composition of the primary spectrum of cosmic rays are key elements to understand the origin, acceleration and propagation of the Galactic cosmic rays. Besides the well known knee and ankle features, the recent results of KASCADE-Grande indicate that the measured energy spectrum exhibits also a less pronounced but still clear deviation from a single power law between the knee and the ankle, with a spectral hardening at 2 × 1016 eV and a steepening at 1017 eV. The average mass composition gets heavier after the knee till 1017 eV where a bending of the heavy component is observed. An indication of a hardening of the light component just above 1017 eV has been measured as well. In this paper the major results obtained so far by the KASCADE-Grande experiment are reviewed.

Data taken with a radio antenna array in combination with the ground-level air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe open up the possibility to measure large extensive air showers with this new technique. The pulse height of the observed radio signals scales with the primary energy of the particles initiating the air shower. The dependence of the radio signal on the angle of the shower axis with respect to the Earth's geomagnetic field and the coherence of the radiation suggest that the radio signal generation is due to the geosynchrotron mechanism.

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 on the coherence of the measured radio signal. In addition, the correlations of the radio pulse amplitude with the primary cosmic ray energy and with the lateral distance from the shower core are studied., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics

The current status of simulations of cosmic ray interactions is reviewed. Different model approaches are compared with respect to the predicted extensive air shower characteristics. Special emphasis is put on the contribution of ''hard'' partonic processes whose role greatly increases with energy. Different ways to account for non-linear interaction effects are analyzed. Future prospects for model improvements and for the reduction of model uncertainties are discussed.

LOPES - LOFAR PrototypE Station (LOFAR - LOw Frequency ARray) is an array of dipole antennas used for the detection of radio emission from cosmic ray air showers. It is co-located and triggered by the KASCADE (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array Detector) experiment, which also provides information about air shower properties like electron number Ne, muon number Nµ, azimuth and zenith angle. 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°, and many of those have very high field strengths. The most inclined event that has been detected with LOPES-10 has a zenith angle of almost 80°. This is important, because cosmic ray air showers with large inclinations, triggered close to the ground, would be a signature of neutrino events. Due to the small baseline of the LOPES-10 detector, it is not yet possible to determine accuratelly the radius of curvature of the showers front, which is related to the distance to the maximum of shower development. However, this should be possible in the future with a large baseline radio telescope like LOFAR.

KASCADE is a multi-detector setup to get redundant information on single air shower basis. The information is used to perform multiparameter analyses to solve the threefold problem of the reconstruction of (i)the unknown primary energy, (ii) the primary mass, and (iii) to quantify the characteristics of the hadronic interactions in the air-shower development. In this talk recent results of the KASCADE data analyses are summarized concerning cosmic ray anisotropy studies, determination of flux spectra for different primary mass groups, and approaches to test hadronic interaction models. Neither large scale anisotropies nor point sources were found in the KASCADE data set. The energy spectra of the light element groups result in a knee-like bending and a steepening above the knee. The topology of the individual knee positions shows a dependency on the primary particle. Though no hadronic interaction model is fully able to describe the multi-parameter data of KASCADE consistently, the more recent models or improved versions of older models reproduce the data better than few years ago., Comment: to appear in Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.), Proc. of the XIII ISVHECRI, Pylos 2004 - with a better quality of the figures

A hybrid simulation code is developed that is suited for fast one-dimensional simulations of shower profiles, including fluctuations. It combines the Monte Carlo simulation of high energy interactions with a fast numerical solution of cascade equations for the resulting distributions of secondary particles. Results obtained with this new code, called CONEX, are presented and compared to CORSIKA predictions., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the XIII ISVHECRI, Pylos, 2004

Contains fulltext : 35498.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Measuring radio pulses from cosmic ray air showers offers various new opportunities. New digital radio receivers allow measurements of these radio pulses even in environments that have lots of radio interference. With high bandwidth ADCs and fast data processing it is possible to store the whole waveform information in digital form and analyse transient events like air showers even after they have been recorded. Digital filtering and beam forming can be used to suppress the radio interference so that it is possible to measure the radio pulses even in radio loud environments. LOPES is a prototype station for the new digital radio interferometer LOFAR and is tailored to measure air showers. For this it is located at the site of the KASCADE-Grande air shower experiment. Already with the first phase of LOPES we have been able to measure radio pulses from air showers and show correlations between the radio pulse height and air shower parameters. The first part gives an introduction and presents the science results of LOPES, while the second part presents the hard- and software that enables LOPES to detect air short pulses.

To investigate the impact of uncertainties in the knowledge of properties of individual hadronic interactions on the development of extensive air showers, the inelastic proton-proton cross section and the elasticity of interactions have been modified within the interaction model QGSJET. Air shower simulations are performed using the CORSIKA code. The influence of the modifications on observables like the number of electrons, muons, and hadrons registered at ground level are investigated. The predictions are compared to measurements of the KASCADE experiment.

Using the correlations of the hadronic, electromagnetic, and muonic components of extensive air showers measured with the experiment KASCADE the influence of hadronic interaction models on the simulation of air showers is investigated. For the simulations CORSIKA with GHEISHA and FLUKA as low-energy models and DPMJET, SIBYLL, and QGSJET as high-energy models have been used.

Since a number of years the QGSJET model has been successfully used by different groups in the field of high energy cosmic rays. Current work is devoted to the first general update of the model. The key improvement is connected to an account for non-linear interaction effects which are of crucial importance for reliable model extrapolation into ultra-high energy domain. The proposed formalism allows to obtain a consistent description of hadron-hadron cross sections and hadron structure functions and to treat non-linear effects explicitely in individual hadronic and nuclear collisions. Other ameliorations concern the treatment of low mass diffraction, employment of realistic nuclear density profiles, and re-calibration of model parameters using a wider set of accelerator data., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 13th International Symposium on Very High-Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions at the NESTOR Institute, Pylos, Greece, 6-12 Sep 2004

Directional information on air showers from the KASCADE Array and on muons registered in the Muon Tracking Detector (MTD) allow to investigate pseudorapidity and momentum distributions of muons. The possibility to test hadronic interaction models, to study primary mass composition and parameters of hadronic interactions with these distributions is discussed.

In the presented analysis of air shower data measured with the KASCADE experiment energy spectra for five mass groups are reconstructed. The results show a change of composition towards heavier elements across the knee but also demonstrate an insufficient description of the data by the used hadronic interaction models QGSJet and SIBYLL.

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.

Recent results from the KASCADE experiment on measurements of cosmic rays in the energy range of the knee are presented. Emphasis is placed on energy spectra of individual mass groups as obtained from an two-dimensional unfolding applied to the reconstructed electron and truncated muon numbers of each individual EAS. The data show a knee-like structure in the energy spectra of light primaries (p, He, C) and an increasing dominance of heavy ones (A > 20) towards higher energies. This basic result is robust against uncertainties of the applied interaction models QGSJET and SIBYLL which are used in the shower simulations to analyse the data. Slight differences observed between experimental data and EAS simulations provide important clues for further improvements of the interaction models. The data are complemented by new limits on global anisotropies in the arrival directions of CRs and by upper limits on point sources. Astrophysical implications for discriminating models of maximum acceleration energy vs galactic diffusion/drift models of the knee are discussed based on this data., 8 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Nuclear Physics B, Proceedings Supplements, as part of the volume for the CRIS 2004, Cosmic Ray International Seminar: GZK and Surroundings

The flux of cosmic-ray induced single hadrons near sea level has been measured with the large hadron calorimeter of the KASCADE experiment. The measurement corroborates former results obtained with detectors of smaller size if the enlarged veto of the 304 m^2 calorimeter surface is encounted for. The program CORSIKA/QGSJET is used to compute the cosmic-ray flux above the atmosphere. Between E_0=300 GeV and 1 PeV the primary proton spectrum can be described with a power law parametrized as dJ/dE_0=(0.15+-0.03)*E_0^{-2.78+-0.03} m^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 TeV^-1. In the TeV region the proton flux compares well with the results from recent measurements of direct experiments.

After discussing conceptual problems with the conventional string model, we present a new approach, based on a theoretically consistent multiple scattering formalism. First results for strange particle production in proton-proton scattering at 158 GeV and at 200 GeV (cms) are discussed., Comment: invited talk, given at the Strange Quark Matter Conference, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, March 12-17, 2003

KASCADE has been designed to measure air showers of primary cosmic-ray energies in the PeV region and to investigate the knee phenomenon in the all-particle energy spectrum. Several observations are measured simultaneously for each event by different detector systems. The experiment started to take data in 1996 and has been completed and extended since then. The individual detector systems and their performances are described. Also, the experience in long-term operation of the experiment and the interplay between different components is outlined.

The KASCADE experiment measures a high number of EAS observables with a large degree of sampling of the electron–photon, muon, and hadron components. It provides accurate data for an event-by-event analysis of the primary cosmic ray flux in the energy range around the knee. The possibility of selecting samples of enriched proton and iron induced extensive air showers by applying the statistical techniques of multivariate analyses is scrutinized using detailed Monte Carlo simulations of three different primaries. The purity and efficiency of the proton and iron classification probability is investigated. After obtaining enriched samples from the measured data by application of the procedures the reconstructed number of hadrons, hadronic energy and other parameters are investigated in the primary

The attenuation of the electron shower size beyond the shower maximum is studied with the KASCADE extensive air shower (EAS) experiment in the primary energy range of about 10 14 –10 16 eV. Attenuation and absorption lengths are determined by applying different approaches, including the method of constant intensity, the decrease of the flux of EASs with increasing zenith angle, and its variation with ground pressure. We observe a significant dependence of the results on the applied method. The determined values of the attenuation length ranges from 175 to 196 g/cm 2 and of the absorption length from 100 to 120 g/cm 2 . The origin of these differences is discussed emphasizing the influence of intrinsic shower fluctuations.

The KASCADE experiment measures local muon densities of air-showers in the knee region at various core distances for two different muon energy thresholds. Muon density spectra have been reconstructed for the total EAS sample, as well as for particular subsamples with enhanced light and heavy induced EAS, classified on the basis of the shower size ratio Nμ/Ne. By comparing these spectra for different muon energy detection thresholds and core distances with detailed Monte Carlo simulations each spectrum should result in the same primary energy spectrum. This allows a comprehensive test of the simulation procedures of the muon lateral distribution and the muon energy spectrum by various Monte Carlo codes. Different combinations of high-energy and low-energy interaction models in the frame of the CORSIKA code are used for comparisons.

An Extensive Air Shower (EAS) calculation scheme based on the solution of cascade equations is applied to obtain lateral distributions of shower particles. The universal hadronic interaction model ne X us is used to prepare necessary input data, i.e. inclusive energy spectra of secondary hadrons and their transverse momentum distributions. The calculated lateral distributions of electrons and muons are compared to the experimental data of the KASCADE array. It is shown that a good agreement with the measurements may be achieved if one takes into account the increasing abundance of heavy nuclei in the primary Cosmic Ray (CR) composition above the knee of the CR spectrum. Some methodical problems concerning electron lateral distribution calculations at large distances are discussed.

Muon production heights in EAS provide a specific tool to investigate the longitudinal development of EAS, since muons are little affected by subsequent interactions in the atmosphere. Multiplicity of muons presents also a unique tool to investigate hadronic interaction models. The capability of the Muon Tracking Detector to measure radial and tangential angles of muon tracks in EAS, in combination with the shower direction determined by the Array of the KASCADE experiment, has been investigated. Due to different characteristics in shower development of light and heavy primary cosmic ray particles the radial angle and therefore the related production height is sensitive to the mass of them. Muon production height (MPH) and muon production depth (MPD) were studied in different bins of the muon shower size for measured data and MC simulations, which have been performed using the Monte Carlo program CORSIKA with the hadronic interaction models QGSJet and ne X us . First composition studies on the basis of MPD distributions have been carried out.

General features of the Gribov-Regge approach to the description of high energy hadronic collisions are considered. A special attention is paid to the treatment of so-called semi-hard interactions and to the role of enhanced Pomeron diagrams which describe non-linear interaction effects. It is shown that different subclasses of such diagrams dominate interaction cross sections and inclusive particle spectra. Also we discuss the modification of the standard scheme by the correct treatment of the energy-momentum sharing mechanism in hadronic collisions.

The hadronic component of extensive air showers is investigated with the large calorimeter of the KASCADE experiment. The transverse momentum transfer in EAS is explored by investigations of the geometrical structure in the hadronic shower core and the arrival times of hadrons. The flux of unaccompanied hadrons is studied to probe hadronic cross sections. The measured results are compatible with simulations using CORSIKA/QGSJET.

The interpretation of extensive air shower measurements often requires the comparison with EAS simulations. These calculations rely on hadronic interaction models which have to extrapolate into kinematical and energy regions not covered by present-day collider experiments. The KASCADE experiment with its large hadron calorimeter and its detectors for the electromagnetic and muonic components provides experimental data to check hadronic interaction models. For the EAS simulations the program CORSIKA with several hadronic event generators embedded is used. Different hadronic observables are investigated as well as their correlations with the electromagnetic and muonic components. Comparing the interaction models QGSJET 98, NEXUS II, and DPMJET 11.5, it is found, that QGSJET describes the data best.

The key observables of the KASCADE field array are the electron and muon number of extensive air showers. Using the size spectra of these measured quantities and their correlations with energy and primary mass it is possible to reconstruct the energy spectra of individual mass groups. The analysis relies on the application of unfolding methods. The resulting spectra of the light components show a knee-like feature. The positions of the individual knees suggest a dependence on the primary charge even if the statistical and systematical significance has to be improved.

A year ago, we presented a new approach to treat hadronic interactions or the initial stage of nuclear collisions [1,2]. It is an effective theory based on the Gribov-Regge formalism, where the internal structure of the Pomerons at high energies is governed by perturbative parton evolution, therefore the nameparton-based Gribov-Regge theory. The main improvement compared to models used so far is the appropriate treatment of the energy sharing between the different elementary interactions in case of multiple scattering. It is clear that the above formalism is not yet complete. At high energies (RHIC, LHC), the multiple elementary interactions (Pomerons) cannot be purely parallel, they interact. So we introduce multiple Pomeron vertices into the theory.

Modern approaches to the description of high energy hadronic and nuclear collisions are reviewed in connection with extensive air shower (EAS) physics. Special attention is devoted to the so-called semihard partonic processes which appear to dominate the interactions at very high energies. It is shown that a corresponding treatment can be developed in the framework of the Gribov–Regge approach, introducing a concept of 'semihard Pomeron', the latter being a t-channel iteration of the phenomenological 'soft' Pomeron and QCD parton ladder. A comparison is made with the QCD eikonal (mini-jet) scheme and essential differences as well as observable consequences for EAS development are analysed in detail. The role of nonlinear interaction contributions described by enhanced Pomeron diagrams is also investigated. It is demonstrated that such diagrams provide important screening corrections to the interaction mechanism and allow us to resolve a seeming contradiction between realistic parton momentum distributions and observed energy dependence of hadron–hadron cross sections. A modification of the standard scheme by correct treatment of energy–momentum sharing mechanism in hadronic collisions is also considered. Finally, we discuss possible ways to discriminate between the alternative approaches.

Using the facilities of the KASCADE Central Detector extensive air showers (EAS) muon arrival time distributions, observed with reference to the arrival time of the first locally registered muon, and their correlations with other EAS observables have been experimentally investigated. The variation of adequately defined time parameters with the distance Rl from the EAS axis has been measured. The experimental data enable a study of the sensitivity of such local arrival time distributions, which characterise the structure of the shower disc, to the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy region around the knee. For that purpose, non-parametric multivariate even-by-event analyses have been performed for an estimate of the mass composition specified by three different mass groups, invoking detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the EAS development. It turns out that local muon arrival time distributions, without information