Related papers: Constraining pion interactions at very high energi…
Primary proton-air interactions at ultra-high energies leave a physically interpretable imprint on the correlated fluctuations of the depth of shower maximum and the muon content in extensive air showers. This imprint reflects the…
The mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is an open problem in astroparticle physics. It is usually inferred from the depth of the shower maximum (Xmax) of cosmic-ray showers, which is only ambiguously determined by modern…
We propose a method to extract high-energy hadronic interaction properties from the distributions of two of the main observables of proton extensive air showers: the depth of maximum shower development, $X_\mathrm{max}$, and the number of…
Ground based observations appear to indicate that Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) of the highest energies (>10^{18.7} eV) consist of heavy particles -- shower depth and muon production data both pointing towards this conclusion. On…
Hadronic cross sections at ultra-high energy have a significant impact on the development of extensive air shower cascades. Therefore the interpretation of air shower data depends critically on hadronic interaction models that extrapolate…
The description of high-energy hadronic interactions plays an important role in the (astrophysical) interpretation of air shower data. The parameter space important for the development of air showers (energy and kinematical range) extends…
The Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina provides the largest data sample of the cosmic ray events with energy above 10$^{18}$ eV. These high energy events can be used to test our understanding of the hadronic interactions at energies…
Indications of a discrepancy between simulations and data on the number of muons in cosmic ray (CR) showers exist over a large span of energies. We focus in particular on the excess of multi-muon bundles observed by the DELPHI detector at…
In this article, I will review how observations performed with extensive air showers are being used to probe hadronic interactions at high energy. I will briefly overview the new studies exploring the connection between the dynamics of air…
The recent observations of muon charge ratio up to about 10 TeV and of atmospheric neutrinos up to energies of about 400 TeV has triggered a renewed interest into the high-energy interaction models and cosmic ray primary composition. A…
Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays with energies above ~ 10^18 eV provide an unique window to study hadronic interactions at energies well above those achieved in the largest man-made accelerators. We argue that at those energies string…
Cosmic rays interacting with the atmosphere allow for the probing of fundamental interactions at ultra-high energies. We thus obtain limits on strongly coupled new physics models via their imprints on cosmic-ray air showers. Using the Monte…
We study the influence of shower fluctuations, and the possible presence of different nuclear species in the primary cosmic ray spectrum, on the experimental determination of both shower energy and the proton air inelastic cross section…
A Monte Carlo generator of high energy cosmic ray interactions, relying on a very basic and transparent theoretical formalism, in the framework of the Reggeon Field Theory, is presented. The main motivation for our work is to provide a new…
The data of cosmic ray NEVOD-DECOR experiment on the investigation of inclined muon bundles for a long time period (May 2012 - March 2021) are presented. The analysis showed that the observed intensity of muon bundles at primary cosmic ray…
The excess of muons observed in ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray air showers relative to simulation predictions, known as the muon puzzle, provides indirect evidence of our incomplete understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions. An…
We demonstrate that the shower-to-shower fluctuations of the muon content of extensive air showers correlate with the fluctuations of a variable of the first interaction of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays, which is computed from the fraction…
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory provides information about the longitudinal development of the muonic component of extensive air showers. Using the timing information from the flash analog-to-digital converter…
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). We have…
An important approach to studying high-energy cosmic rays is the investigation of the properties of extensive air showers; however, the lateral distribution of particles in simulations of such showers strongly depends on the applied model…