Related papers: Constraining pion interactions at very high energi…
Using the data taken at the Pierre Auger Observatory between December 2004 and December 2012, we have examined the implications of the distributions of depths of atmospheric shower maximum (Xmax), using a hybrid technique, for composition…
The interaction of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with air nuclei triggers extensive air showers that reach their maximal energy deposition at the atmospheric depth $X_{\max}$. The distribution of this shower observable encodes information…
Muons serve as the best probes of the physics of hadronic interactions in the upper atmosphere because of their simple physics. All the properties of detected muons, such as their energy and angle of incidence, are governed by the…
The analysis of high-energy air shower data allows one to study the proton-air cross section at energies beyond the reach of fixed target and collider experiments. The mean depth of the first interaction point and its fluctuations are a…
The relation of model predictions for muon content of extensive air showers (EAS) to particular properties of hadron-air interactions is discussed. Further, using a new Monte Carlo generator of cosmic ray interactions, QGSb, the relevance…
We report on a study about some characteristics of muon production during the development of extended air showers initiated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Using simulations with the recent new version of the AIRES air shower simulation…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this paper we summarize the results from pion-carbon collisions recorded at…
The interaction cross section of charged pions with air nuclei is a critical parameter for accurately simulating extensive air showers. Improving the modeling of high-energy pion interactions is essential for addressing the muon puzzle-the…
Extensive air showers produced by the interaction of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays ($E > 10^{18}$ eV) in the Earth's atmosphere provide a challenging yet unique channel to probe hadronic interactions at the 100 TeV center-of-mass energy…
To interpret the mean depth of cosmic ray air shower maximum and its dispersion, we parametrize those two observables as functions of the first two moments of the $\ln A$ distribution. We examine the goodness of this simple method through…
Production of high-energy muons in cosmic-ray air showers, relevant for underground detectors, depends on the properties of the primary cosmic ray as well as the atmospheric temperature through the competition between decay and…
Air shower simulation programs are essential tools for the analysis of data from cosmic ray experiments and for planning the layout of new detectors. They are used to estimate the energy and mass of the primary particle. Unfortunately the…
The composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is an important issue in astroparticle physics research, and additional experimental results are required for further progress. Here we investigate what can be learned from the statistical…
Deep underground experiments present a new avenue to probe the first interactions in extensive air showers or hadronic interactions in the extreme forward phase space. The China Jinping Underground Laboratory, characterized by a vertical…
Data from multiple experiments suggest that the current interaction models used in Monte Carlo simulations do not correctly reproduce the hadronic interactions in air showers produced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR), in particular…
In this work, the relation between muon production in extensive air showers and features of hadronic multiparticle production at low energies is studied. Using CORSIKA, we determine typical energies and phase space regions of secondary…
The energy spectrum of muons at ground level in air showers are studied and a new observable is proposed to constrain hadronic interaction models used in air shower simulations. An asymmetric Gaussian function is proposed to describe the…
In this work we argue that, in the interpretation of the energy dependence of the depth of the shower maximum and of the muon content in high energy cosmic ray showers ($E > 10^{17}$ eV), other variables besides the composition may play an…
The possibility of detection of some features of high energy particle interactions with detectors placed at medium depths underground through studies on high energy muons is investigated. These muons carry information about the early…
Measurements of the muon content of extensive air showers at the highest energies show discrepancies compared to simulations as large as the differences between proton and iron. This so-called muon puzzle is commonly attributed to a lack of…