CORSIKA (COsmic Ray SImulations for KAscade) is a

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

computer software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

for simulation of extensive air showers induced by high energy

cosmic ray Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...

s, i.e. protons and

atomic nuclei The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. Aft ...

, as well as

Gamma rays A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol ), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from high energy interactions like the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei or astronomical events like solar flares. It consists o ...

(photons),

electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...

s, and

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is an elementary particle that interacts via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is so small ('' -ino'') that i ...

s. It may be used up to and beyond the highest energies of 100 E eV. In the current version the program utilizes the hadronic interaction models EPOS, QGSJET, and DPMJET, which are based on Gribov-Regge theory, and SIBYLL based on a minijet model for high energies. Hadronic interactions at lower energies are described either by the GHEISHA module, by FLUKA, or by the UrQMD model. Electromagnetic interactions are treated by an adapted version of the EGS4 code, customized by including the Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect relevant at higher energies. It can be used to simulate the generation of Cherenkov radiation, radio emission ( Askaryan radiation), and atmospheric

s. A complete rewrite of CORSIKA in C++ named CORSIKA 8 is currently work in progress.

References

External links

Extensive Air Shower Simulations with CORSIKA and the Influence of High-Energy Hadronic Interaction Models
by Heck, D. at, oai:arXiv.org:astro-ph/0103073 at

arXiv arXiv (pronounced as "archive"—the X represents the Chi (letter), Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not Scholarly pee ...

The Automated Air Shower Generation with CORSIKA at the Computing Center of IN2P3
PS
Recent Extensions to the Air Shower Simulation Program CORSIKA
proceedings of the 25th ICRC. Physics software {{physics-software-stub