Probing the ${\pi }^0$ spectrum at high-$x$ in proton-Air interactions at ultra-high energies

Abstract

The average number of muons in air showers and its connection with shower development has been studied extensively in the past. With the upcoming detector upgrades, UHECR observatories will be able to probe higher moments of the distribution of the number of muons. Here a study of the physics of the fluctuations of the muon content is presented. In addition to proving that the fluctuations must be dominated by the first interactions, we show that low-$N_{\mu }$ tail of the shower-to-shower distribution of the number of muons is determined by the high-$x_{\mathrm{L}}$ region of the production cross-section of neutral pions in the first interaction.

Proceedings of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays 2018

References in corpus (4)

• One-dimensional Hybrid Approach to Extensive Air Shower Simulation
• Measurement of the proton-air cross-section at $\sqrt{s}=57$ TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Hadronic Multiparticle Production at Ultra-High Energies and Extensive Air Showers

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Measurements and tests of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory