Constraining pion interactions at very high energies by cosmic ray data

Abstract

We demonstrate that a substantial part of the present uncertainties in model predictions for the average maximum depth of cosmic ray-induced extensive air showers is related to very high energy pion-air collisions. Our analysis shows that the position of the maximum of the muon production profile in air showers is strongly sensitive to the properties of such interactions. Therefore, the measurements of the maximal muon production depth by cosmic ray experiments provide a unique opportunity to constrain the treatment of pion-air interactions at very high energies and to reduce thereby model-related uncertainties for the shower maximum depth.

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• Probing the evolution of the EAS muon content in the atmosphere with KASCADE-Grande
• A minimal model for extragalactic cosmic rays and neutrinos
• Azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of the surface detector signals of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Universality of the muon component of extensive air showers
• Simulation study on the effects of diffractive collisions on the prediction of the observables in ultra-high-energy cosmic ray experiments
• Particle physics in cosmic rays