Spectra and composition of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and the measurement of the proton-air cross section

Abstract

The shape of the longitudinal development of the showers generated in the atmosphere by very high energy cosmic ray particles encodes information about the mass composition of the flux, and about the properties of hadronic interactions that control the shower development. Studies of the energy dependence of the average and width of the depth of maximum distribution of showers with $E \gtrsim 10^{17.3}$ eV measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory, suggest, on the basis of a comparison with current models, that the composition of the cosmic ray flux undergoes a very important evolution, first becoming lighter and then rapidly heavier. These conclusions, if confirmed, would have profound and very surprising implications for our understanding of the high energy astrophysical sources. Studies of the shape of the depth of maximum distribution in the same energy range have been used by Auger and by the Telescope Array Collaboration to measure the interaction length of protons in air, a quantity that allows to estimate the $pp$ cross sections for values of $\sqrt{s}$ well above the LHC range. In this paper we argue that it is desirable to combine the studies of the cosmic ray composition with those aimed at the measurement of the $p$--air cross section. The latter allow to obtain estimates for the fraction of protons in the flux that can be of great help in decoding the composition and its energy dependence. Studies that consider multiple parameters to characterize the depth of maximum distributions also offer the possibility to perform more sensitive tests of the validity of the models used to describe high energy showers.