Small shower CORSIKA simulations

Abstract

Extensive Air Showers (EAS) induced by cosmic ray particles of very low energies, owing to the significantly steep cosmic ray energy spectrum, dominate the secondary particle flux measured by single detectors and small shower arrays. Such arrays connected in extended networks can be used to determine potentially interesting spatial correlations between showers, which may shed new light on the nature of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. The quantitative interpretation of showers recorded by small local arrays requires a methodology that differs from that used by ordinary large EAS arrays operating in the "knee" region and above. We present "small EAS generator," a semi-analytical method for integrating cosmic ray spectra over energies of interest and summing over the mass spectra of primary nuclei in arbitrary detector configurations. Furthermore, we provide results on the EAS electron and muon fluxes and particle density spectra.