CORSIKA 8: A modern and universal framework for particle cascade simulations

CORSIKA 8 represents a major advancement in the simulation of particle cascades in arbitrary media, building on the long-standing foundation of CORSIKA 7. It has been completely redesigned as a modular, modern C++ framework, overcoming key limitations of its predecessor and providing a flexible platform for both established and emerging use cases. In addition to traditional air-shower simulations, CORSIKA 8 supports applications such as cross-media particle cascades and improved modeling of radio emission, especially propagation through complex media. The framework includes state-of-the-art descriptions of electromagnetic cascades via PROPOSAL and supports hadronic interactions with current and next-generation models, such as EPOS LHC-R, QGSJet-III, and Pythia 8. In this presentation, we will outline the design principles, current capabilities, and ongoing validation efforts of CORSIKA 8, and discuss its role as a versatile simulation tool for future astroparticle and particle-physics experiments.