A Comparative Study of the Depth of Maximum of Simulated Air Shower Longitudinal Profiles

Abstract

A comparative study of simulated air shower longitudinal profiles is presented. An appropriate thinning level for the calculations is first determined empirically. High statistics results are then provided, over a wide energy range, (10^14.0 to 10^20.5 eV), for proton & iron primaries, using four combinations of the MOCCA & CORSIKA program frameworks, and the SIBYLL & QGSJET high energy hadronic interaction models. These results are compared to existing experimental data. The way in which the first interaction controls Xmax is investigated, as is the distribution of Xmax.

13 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Astroparticle Physics. (Revised according to referee's comments.)

References in corpus (1)

• Elemental Composition of Cosmic Rays near the Knee by Multiparameter Measurement of Air Showerss

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