Universality of electron-positron distributions in extensive air showers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that electron-positron distributions in high-energy cosmic-ray air showers exhibit universal features, depending mainly on the shower maximum, and provides parameterizations for realistic modeling.

Contribution

It introduces multi-dimensional parameterizations of electron-positron distributions based on extensive simulations, aiding data analysis and modeling of air shower signals.

Findings

Distributions depend primarily on the shower maximum depth.

Provided parameterizations enable realistic simulations of air shower signals.

Universal features simplify modeling of cosmic-ray air showers.

Abstract

Using a large set of simulated extensive air showers, we investigate universality features of electron and positron distributions in very-high-energy cosmic-ray air showers. Most particle distributions depend only on the depth of the shower maximum and the number of particles in the cascade at this depth. We provide multi-dimensional parameterizations for the electron-positron distributions in terms of particle energy, vertical and horizontal momentum angle, lateral distance, and time distribution of the shower front. These parameterizations can be used to obtain realistic electron-positron distributions in extensive air showers for data analysis and simulations of Cherenkov radiation, fluorescence signal, and radio emission.