Analysis of extensive air showers with the hybrid code SENECA

Abstract

The ultrahigh energy tail of the cosmic ray spectrum has been explored with unprecedented detail. For this reason, new experiments are exerting a severe pressure on extensive air shower modeling. Detailed fast codes are in need in order to extract and understand the richness of information now available. In this sense we explore the potential of SENECA, an efficient hybrid tridimensional simulation code, as a valid practical alternative to full Monte Carlo simulations of extensive air showers generated by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We discuss the influence of this approach on the main longitudinal characteristics of proton, iron nucleus and gamma induced air showers for different hadronic interaction models. We also show the comparisons of our predictions with those of CORSIKA code.