Related papers: Air showers, hadronic models, and muon production
Several air shower observatories have established that the number of muons produced in UHE air showers is significantly larger than that predicted by models. We argue that the only solution to this muon deficit, compatible with the observed…
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…
We study the role new gauge interactions in extensions of the standard model play in air showers initiated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Hadron-hadron events remain dominated by quantum chromodynamics, while projectiles and/or targets…
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…
The muon charge ratio of the lateral muon density distributions in single EAS is studied by simulations, in context of recent proposals to measure this observable in coincidence with EAS observations. While effects of the hadronic…
The measurement of the flux of muons produced in cosmic ray air showers is essential for the study of primary cosmic rays. Such measurements are important in extensive air shower detectors to assess the energy spectrum and the chemical…
We present results of simulations of a muon content in the air showers induced by very high energy cosmic rays. Muon energy distributions and muon densities at ground level are given. We discuss a prompt muon component generated by decays…
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported an excess in the number of muons of a few tens of percent over expectations computed using extrapolation of hadronic interaction models tuned to accommodate LHC data. Very recently, we proposed an…
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…
We report on a comparison between the flux of muons in the atmosphere measured by the CAPRICE98 experiment and simulations performed with the air shower simulation program AIRES. To reduce systematic uncertainties we have used as input the…
We present a new one-dimensional calculation of low and intermediate energy atmospheric muon and neutrino fluxes, using up-to-date data on primary cosmic rays and hadronic interactions. The existing agreement between calculated muon fluxes…
Extensive air showers produce high-energy muons that can be utilized to probe hadronic interaction models in cosmic ray interactions. Most muons originate from pion and kaon decays, called $\textit{conventional}$ muons, while a smaller…
We argue that the increase of the ratio baryon/meson due to the presence of strong colour fields and percolation in ultra-high energy hadronic collisions, helps to explain some of the global features of ultra-high energy cosmic ray cascades…
A model for the total photoproduction cross section based on the ansatz that resummation of infrared gluons limits the rise induced by QCD minijets in all the total cross-sections, is used to simulate extended air showers initiated by…
In order to examine a muon excess observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory, detailed Monte Carlo simulations were carried out for primary protons, iron nuclei and strangelets (hypothetical stable lumps of strange quark matter). We obtained…
The combined data of Fluorescence and Surface Detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory has recently provided the strongest constraints on the validity of predictions from current models of hadronic interactions. The unmodified predictions…
The bulk of air showers initiated by very high energy cosmic rays exhibits a longitudinal development in depth with a single well-defined shower maximum. However, a small fraction of showers has a profile that differs considerably from this…
The role of Horizontal Showers induced by cosmic rays is discussed in detail. A new approach to the calculation of the muon component in horizontal air showers induced by protons, heavier nuclei or photons is presented which allows a simple…
In this talk we present a possible explanation of the presence of high muon multiplicity events registered recenty by CERN ALICE experiment in its dedicated cosmic ray run.
Experimental observations of extensive air showers have revealed an excess of the muon content with respect to their theoretical simulations, which we refer to as the muon puzzle. This muon puzzle hampers a precise determination of the…