Air Shower Measurements in the Primary Energy Range from PeV to EeV

Recent results of advanced experiments with sophisticated measurements of cosmic rays in the energy range of the so called knee at a few PeV indicate a distinct knee in the energy spectra of light primary cosmic rays and an increasing dominance of heavy ones towards higher energies. This leads to the expectation of knee-like features of the heavy primaries at around 100 PeV. To investigate in detail this energy region several new experiments are or will be devised.Comment: 4 pages; submitted to Proceedings of 2nd Workshop on TeV Astrophysics, Aug 28-31, 2006, Madison, W

Radio detection of cosmic rays: present and future

Digital radio detection of cosmic rays has made tremendous progress over the past decade. It has become increasingly clear where the potential --- but also the limitations --- of the technique lie. In this article, we discuss roads that could be followed in future radio detection efforts and try to evaluate the associated prospects and challenges.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the UHECR2014 conference, Springdale, UT; to be published in JPS Conf. Pro

Hadronic multiparticle production in extensive air showers and accelerator experiments

Using CORSIKA for simulating extensive air showers, we study the relation between the shower characteristics and features of hadronic multiparticle production at low energies. We report about investigations of typical energies and phase space regions of secondary particles which are important for muon production in extensive air showers. Possibilities to measure relevant quantities of hadron production in existing and planned accelerator experiments are discussed.Comment: To be published in Proceedings of ICRC 2005, 29th International Cosmic Ray Conferenc

Introducing TAXI: a Transportable Array for eXtremely large area Instrumentation studies

A common challenge in many experiments in high-energy astroparticle physics is the need for sparse instrumentation in areas of 100 km2 and above, often in remote and harsh environments. All these arrays have similar requirements for read-out and communication, power generation and distribution, and synchronization. Within the TAXI project we are developing a transportable, modular four-station test-array that allows us to study different approaches to solve the aforementioned problems in the laboratory and in the field. Well-defined interfaces will provide easy interchange of the components to be tested and easy transport and setup will allow in-situ testing at different sites. Every station consists of three well-understood 1 m2 scintillation detectors with nanosecond time resolution, which provide an air shower trigger. An additional sensor, currently a radio antenna for air shower detection in the 100 MHz band, is connected for testing and calibration purposes. We introduce the TAXI project and report the status and performance of the first TAXI station deployed at the Zeuthen site of DESY.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, presented at ARENA 2014, Annapolis, MD, June 201