Abstract
Extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays are sensitive to the details of hadronic interactions models, so we present the main results obtained using the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The depth at which the maximum of the electromagnetic development takes place is the most sensitive parameter to infer the nature of the cosmic rays. However, the hadronic models cannot describe consistently the maximum and the muon measurements at energies higher than those reached at the LHC.
Highlights
Particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators can be studied with air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR)
Using data from the Auger Observatory we have found that the average primary composition from the Xmax observable is not consistent with a pure composition, assuming the overall correctness of the hadronic interaction models considered
Under the assumption that there is no new physics affecting the air-shower development trans-LHC energies, we can see a transition from light to heavy UHECR composition
Summary
Particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators can be studied with air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory [1, 2], indicate that the hadronic interaction models EPOS-LHC and QGSJetII-04 have a muon deficit of around 30% to 80% [3], respectively, to match the primary composition inferred from the depth of the electromagnetic (EM) shower maximum. After the first interaction ∼ 80% of the particles produced are pions and ∼ 8% are kaons. The produced π0 carry around 25% of the energy, and they immediately decay into photons, feeding the electromagnetic cascade. The rest of the energy is carried mainly by charged pions (and other mesons and baryons), which continue the hadronic cascade. Due to the limited space available here, we will briefly discuss the main features of muon studies and electromagnetic profiles
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