A new simple method for the analysis of extensive air showers

The most important goal of studying an extensive air shower is to find the energy, mass and arrival direction of its primary cosmic ray. In order to find these parameters, the core position and arrival direction of the shower should be determined. In this paper, a new method for finding core location has been introduced that utilizes trigger time information of particle detectors. We have also developed a simple technique to reconstruct the arrival direction. Our method is not based upon density-sensitive detectors which are sensitive to the number of crossing particles and is also independent of lateral distribution models. This model has been developed and examined by the analysis of simulated shower events generated by the CORSIKA package.

Research highlights
► A new method for finding an initial trial core location of an EAS and reconstructing its geometry has been introduced.
► The method is independent of lateral distribution function.
► It is not based on density-sensitive detectors.
► For the assumed array of the paper, the arrival direction has improved greatly in comparison with the plane front approximation.