Calculating vertical atmospheric muon energy spectra for energies ranging from 102 to 105 GeV

Abstract

New calculations of the atmospheric vertical muon energy spectra for energies ranging from 102 to 105 GeV are performed using an original approach and the CORSIKA 7.4 software package. The intensity of the atmospheric muon flux calculated using the SIBYLL 2.1 and QGSJET II-03 models for muon energies of ~(103–105) GeV is 1.7 times lower than the intensity predicted by L3+Cosmic, MARO and LVD collaborations on the basis of experimental data. For the energy range of ~(102–103) GeV, this reduction is as high as ~2.2 for the QGSJET II-03 model; for the SIBYLL 2.1 model, it falls to 2.1. If we assume that the first generation of charged π± and K ± mesons makes the greatest contribution to the most energetic muon flux, the generation of mesons is underestimated by 1.7 times in the abovementioned models.