Comparing Methods for Cosmic Ray Air Shower Reconstruction Across 324 Observations

Abstract

Despite sustained attention from the research community, cosmic ray air shower reconstruction remains difficult to study outside well-funded laboratories. We introduce a low-cost framework and benchmark it against established baselines across 4907 trials. We observe a statistically significant effect (p < 0.03) that persists across all tested conditions. The results carry direct implications for both classroom instruction and early-stage research training.