Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers probe particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators. Here we introduce a new method to test hadronic interaction models without relying on the absolute energy calibration, and apply it to events with primary energy 6-16 EeV (E_CM = 110-170 TeV), whose longitudinal development and lateral distribution were simultaneously measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The average hadronic shower is 1.33 +- 0.16 (1.61 +- 0.21) times larger than predicted using the leading LHC-tuned models EPOS-LHC (QGSJetII-04), with a corresponding excess of muons.

Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Number

References in corpus (4)

• Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Measurements at Energies above 10^17.8 eV
• The Offline Software Framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Calibration of the Surface Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Remnant Break-up and Muon Production in Cosmic Ray Air Showers

Cited by in corpus (65)

• The Forward Physics Facility: Sites, Experiments, and Physics Potential
• The Muon Puzzle in cosmic-ray induced air showers and its connection to the Large Hadron Collider
• Report on Tests and Measurements of Hadronic Interaction Properties with Air Showers
• Imaging the nucleus with high-energy photons
• AugerPrime: the Pierre Auger Observatory Upgrade
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• Measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive air showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Progress in high-energy cosmic ray physics
• A search for photons with energies above $2\times 10^{17}$ eV using hybrid data from the low-energy extensions of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• An explanation of the muon puzzle of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and the role of the Forward Physics Facility for model improvement
• Density of GeV muons in air showers measured with IceTop
• Multi-Messenger Physics with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Testing Hadronic-Model Predictions of Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles and Ground-Particle Signals using Hybrid Data of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• GCOS -- The Global Cosmic Ray Observatory
• Inference of the Mass Composition of Cosmic Rays with energies from $10^{18.5}$ to $10^{20}$ eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory and Deep Learning
• Enhancing the cosmic-ray mass sensitivity of air-shower arrays by combining radio and muon detectors
• Investigating the fluxes and physics potential of LHC neutrino experiments
• Science and Project Planning for the Forward Physics Facility in Preparation for the 2024-2026 European Particle Physics Strategy Update
• High-Energy Galactic Cosmic Rays (Astro2020 Science White Paper)
• Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles with energies between $10^{18.5}$ and $10^{20}$ eV using the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory and Deep Learning
• Two Micron-Size Dark Dimensions
• Direct measurements of cosmic rays (TeV and beyond) in space using an ultra-thin homogeneous calorimeter
• What is the nature and origin of the highest-energy particles in the universe?
• Determination of the Cosmic-Ray Chemical Composition: Open Issues and Prospects
• Universality of the muon component of extensive air showers
• Two-body decays in deformed relativity
• The spectra and composition of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays and the measurement of the proton-air cross section
• Sub-TeV hadronic interaction model differences and their impact on air showers
• Effect of the uncertainty in the hadronic interaction models on the estimation of the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Muon puzzle in ultra-high energy EASs according to Yakutsk array and Auger experiment data
• The science of ultra-high energy cosmic rays after more than 15 years of operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Neutrino Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider
• Studies on the response of a water-Cherenkov detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to atmospheric muons using an RPC hodoscope
• AugerPrime -- The upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Detectors for high-energy messengers from the Universe
• Hypothetical Lorentz invariance violation and the muon content of extensive air showers
• Air showers, hadronic models, and muon production
• Muons in EASs with $E_0=10^{19}$ eV according to data of the Yakutsk Array
• Deep learning method for identifying mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays
• Muon lateral distribution function of extensive air showers: results of the Sydney University Giant Air-shower Recorder versus modern Monte-Carlo simulations
• Zenith-Angular Characteristics of Particles in EASs with $E_0\simeq 10^{18}$ eV According to the Yakutsk Array Data
• A Heavy-Metal Scenario of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays
• Looking forward to forward physics at the CERN's LHC
• Measurements and tests of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• A Direct Comparison of Muon Measurements at the Yakutsk Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory
• A Brief History of the Study of High Energy Cosmic Rays using Arrays of Surface Detectors
• Probing the ${\pi }^0$ spectrum at high-$x$ in proton-Air interactions at ultra-high energies
• A Study of Modified Characteristics of Hadronic Interactions
• The Puzzle of Muons in Extensive Air Showers
• Measurement of attenuation length of the muon content in extensive air showers from 0.3 to 30 PeV with LHAASO
• Letter of Intent: The Forward Physics Facility
• Testing Model Predictions of Depth of Air-Shower Maximum and Signals in Surface Detectors using Hybrid Data of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Photon-likeness of hadron showers and impact of Lorentz boosting
• Autonomous RPCs for a Cosmic Ray ground array
• The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC
• On the efficiency of the evaluation of the primary cosmic ray composition using lateral distributions of air shower electromagnetic component
• Particle physics in cosmic rays
• Constraints on the diffuse flux of multi-PeV astrophysical neutrinos obtained with the Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector
• Calculation of rescaling factors and nuclear multiplication of muons in extensive air showers
• Remarks on atmospheric effect of D-foam in light of muon puzzle
• The puzzle of composition of cosmic rays with energies (2-12.5) EeV according to muon detectors data of the Yakutsk EAS array
• Soft Particle Production in Cosmic Ray Showers
• Aspects of astrophysical particle production and beyond the Standard Model phenomenology
• Explaining muon excess in cosmic rays using the gluon condensation model
• Self-consistent approach for measuring the energy spectra and composition of cosmic rays and determining the properties of hadronic interactions at high energy