Multiple Production, Transport in Atmosphere and Detection of High Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

We describe the general aspects of Monte Carlo Collision Generators suitable for cosmic ray nucleon-Air and nuclei-Air interactions, including accelerator and collider data. The problem of the extrapolation at 3 energy decades above the LHC of the main features of high energy collisions is discussed and under theoretical and phenomenological assumptions, the properties of the longitudinal and lateral development of giant extensive air showers simulated with the CORSIKA program are presented. The determination of the primary energy near $10^{20}$ eV is examined for different observables, total size, densities of charged particles interpolated at 600~m from shower core. The extensive air shower data collected around LHC energy is in better agreement with models of large multiplicities. Beyond this energy, the extrapolation carried assuming the diquark breaking mechanism can change the classic conversion to primary energy and such circumstance can have consequences on the validity of the GZK cut off. In those conditions, we have simulated large and giant air showers taking into account, in addition, new processes, such as diquark breaking, and topological problems involving adequate structure functions for lateral distributions, up to energies exceeding $10^{20}$ eV for P.AUGER and EUSO experiments.