Approaches to Optimization of Experimental Design for Cosmic Ray Mass Composition Studies in the 1–1000 PeV Energy Range

The new SPHERE-3 detector is under development. The main purpose of this experiment is to study the mass composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range of 1–1000 PeV. The difference between this detector and the previous ones in this series is the registration of not only the Cherenkov light reflected from the snow, but also direct light entering the detector. Several options are being considered for recording direct Cherenkov light. The article presents the estimated parameters of the optical scheme of the detector and the first estimations of its sensitivity to the energy and mass of the primary particle. The first approximations of methods used for energy and mass of the primary particle assessment in each event are given, and their accuracy is considered. At the moment, methods for reflected Cherenkov light and direct Cherenkov light processing are being considered independently of each other.