Speed up CORSIKA

For modern physics experiments, simulations are an essential part for the analysis of measured data. With increasing precision of those experiments, more and more simulated data are needed. To reduce the large amount of required calculation time, different approaches are possible. One possibility are experiment specific adjustments of simulation to reduce the number of not measurable particle and events. In gamma-ray astronomy, it is common to use the software package CORSIKA for the simulation of cosmic-ray induced air showers. Two new modules have been developed to allow for an efficient customization of the simulation. Both modules are designed as an API to configure the simulation precisely to a specific experiment. The first module enables the user to modify and remove particles during the calculation of the air shower. The second module enables sending and receiving of arbitrary data to an external server, which is programmed to analyze incoming data from multiple simulations running in parallel. The server can send specific commands to CORSIKA to discard a calculating event or request the simulation of certain particle. First studies for FACT showed, that these developments reduce the calculation time and memory space by more than 30% each. In this talk, the developed modules are introduced, and results of the optimization using the example of some selected use cases are presented.