Measurements of the muon content of air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory offers a unique window to study cosmic rays and particle physics at energies above 3 EeV (corresponding to a centre-of-mass energy of 75 TeV in proton-proton collisions) inaccessible to accelerator experiments. We discuss the different methods of estimating the number of muons in showers recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, which is an observable sensitive to primary mass composition and to properties of the hadronic interactions in the shower. The muon content, derived from data with these methods, is presented and compared to predictions from the post-LHC hadronic interaction models for different primary composition. We find that models do not reproduce well the Auger observations, displaying a deficit of muons at the ground. In the light of these results, a better understanding of ultra-high energy extensive air showers and hadronic interactions is crucial to determine the composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We report on the upgrade plans of the Pierre Auger Observatory to achieve this science goal.