  A new method for energy and mass composition estimation of primary cosmic ray
radiation based on atmospheric Cerenkov light flux in extensive air showers
(EAS) analysis is proposed. The Cerenkov light flux in EAS initiated by primary
protons and iron nuclei is simulated with CORSIKA 5.62 code for Chacaltaya
observation level (536 g/cm2) in the energy range 10 TeV - 10 PeV. An adequate
model, approximation of lateral distribution of Cerenkov light in showers is
obtained. Using the proposed model and solution of overdetermined system of
nonlinear equations based on Gauss Newton method with autoregularization, two
different array detector arrangements are compared. The detector response for
the detector sets is simulated. The accuracies in energy and shower axis
determination are studied and the corresponding selection criteria are
proposed. An approximation with nonlinear fit is obtained and the energy
dependence of the proposed model function parameters is studied. The
approximation of model parameters as function of the primary energy is carried
out. This permits, taking into account the properties of the proposed method
and model, to distinguish proton primaries from iron primaries. The detector
response for the detector sets is simulated and the accuracies in energy
determination are calculated. Moreover the accuracies in shower axis
determination are studied and criteria in shower axis position estimation are
proposed.
