Hadronic interaction models beyond collider energies

Studies of the influence of different hadronic models on extensive air showers at ultrahigh energies are presented. The hadronic models considered are those implemented in the well-known QGSJET and SIBYLL event generators. The different approaches used in both codes to model the underlying physics are analyzed using computer simulations performed with the program AIRES. The most relevant observables for both single collisions and air showers are studied for primary energies ranging from 10(14) eV up to 10(20.5) eV. In addition, the evolution of lateral and energy distributions during the shower development is presented. Our analysis seems to indicate that the behavior of shower observables does not largely reflect the strong differences observed in single collisions. [S0556-2821(99)03107-0].