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CORSIKA 8 -- the next-generation air shower simulation framework
by Tim Huege for the CORSIKA 8 Collaboration
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Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Tim Huege |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.14240v1 (pdf) |
| Code repository: | https://gitlab.iap.kit.edu/AirShowerPhysics/corsika |
| Date submitted: | 2022-08-31 12:44 |
| Submitted by: | Huege, Tim |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Proceedings |
| Proceedings issue: | 21st International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI2022) |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approach: | Computational |
Abstract
For more than 20 years, the community has heavily relied on CORSIKA for the simulation of extensive air showers, their Cherenkov light emission and their radio signals. While tremendously successful, the Fortran-based monolithic design of CORSIKA up to version 7 limits adaptation to new experimental needs, for example in complex scenarios where showers transition from air into dense media, and to new computing paradigms such as the use of multi-core and GPU parallelization. With CORSIKA 8, we have reimplemented the core functionality of CORSIKA in a modern, modular, C++-based simulation framework, and successfully validated it against CORSIKA 7. Here, we discuss the philosophy of CORSIKA 8, showcase some example applications, and present the current state of implementation as well as the plans for the future.
Current status:
Reports on this Submission
Anonymous Report 1 on 2022-10-19 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Anonymous, Report on arXiv:2208.14240v1, delivered 2022-10-19, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.5931
Strengths
The paper addresses the development of the Monte Carlo simulation code CORSIKA 8 for the simulation of extensive air showers, the Cherenkov light emission and radio signals of air showers. It details, in a comprehensive way, why the new code is a breakthrough for the scientific community.
1. It extends the range of applicability of the existing code to the development of air showers in several media.
2. CORSIKA 8 was re-written in C++ and python programming languages, replacing the old FORTRAN code used in CORSIKA 7.
3. Modularity and a handful of new features easy to implement by the users.
4. Thought for GPU clusters, and HPC as required for massive productions.
For these reasons, CORSIKA 8 is one of the most expected Monte Carlo programs for the simulation of extensive air showers in the forthcoming years.
Weaknesses
No weaknesses were found.
Report
The paper is well written and explains, thoroughly, the features of the new Monte Carlo code CORSIKA 8. Detailed comparisons between the new code results and already existing codes are given.
For the reasons detailed above, this paper meets the criteria for publication in the SciPost Physics Proceedings.
Requested changes
Some minor English corrections should be implemented.
1. Expressions such as "for example" or "in particular" should be written between commas.
2. In page 1 - Introduction, it seems better to replace "added functionality" -> "added functionalities."
3. In page 2 - Philosophy and code design, in the first paragraph, the word functionality appears repeated too many times. Again, it seems more appropriate to replace "the development of new functionality" -> "the development of new functionalities / features / applications."