Methods of Determination of the Energy and Mass of Primary Cosmic Ray Particles at Extensive Air Shower Energies

Measurements of cosmic ray particles at energies above E >∼ 5 · 10 14 eV are performed by large area ground based air shower experiments. Only they provide the collection power required for obtaining sufficient statistics at the low flux levels involved. In this review we briefly outline the physics and astrophysics interests of such measurements and discuss in more detail various experimental techniques applied for reconstructing the energy and mass of the primary particles. These include surface arrays of particle detectors as well as observations of Cherenkovand of fluorescence light. A large variety of air shower observables is then reconstructed from such data and used to infer the properties of the primary particles via comparisons to air shower simulations. Advantages, limitations, and systematic uncertainties of different approaches will be critically discussed.