Investigating the ground energy distribution of particles produced in extensive air showers

The energy spectra of particles arriving at the ground is a significant observable in the analysis of extensive air showers (EAS). Energy distributions at ground were studied for primary particles (12C,56Fe, p, and 28Si) with high primary energies (10^17, 10^18, 10^19, and 10^20 eV) from two zenith angles (0 and 30 Deg.). 960 EAS were simulated using the Monte-Carlo program Aires (version 19.04.00) with three models of hadronic interaction (EPOS-LHC, QGSJET-II-04, and Sibyll2.3c). Good agreement was obtained by comparing the present results with results simulated using CORSIKA for primary iron at an energy of 10^20 eV. In this study we investigated various secondary particles that arrive at the ground and deposit a portion of their energy on ground detectors. These results show that the distinction in energy distribution at ground is greater for primary protons than carbon, iron, or silicon nuclei at higher energies and steeper zenith angles.