Study of themuon content of high-energy air showers with KASCADE-Grande

J C Arteaga‐Velázquez ,G Toma,D Kang,J Oehlschläger,E Cantoni,P Łuczak,T Pierog,F Cossavella,B Mitrica,A Weindl,J Zabierowski,D Heck,A Haungs,F Di Pierro,D Rivera-Rangel,J Milke,K Link,H Bozdog,H Schieler,C Morello,J Blümer,S Ostapchenko,J Wochele,H.J Mayer,K Bekk,H Ulrich,D Fuhrmann,R Engel,R Glasstetter,H Rebel,H.J Gils,S Schoo,T Huege,А Чиавасса ,W D Apel ,O Sima ,P Döll ,A Gherghel-Lascu ,Frank G Schröder ,Vítor De Souza ,C Grupen ,K.h Kampert ,M Bertaina ,K Daumiller ,M Roth ,I.m Brâncuş ,H J Mathes ,G Trinchero ,J R Hörandel ,H O Klages

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201920806003

Abstract

In this work, we report measurements on the muon content (Eth > 230 MeV) of extensive air showers (EAS) induced by cosmic rays with primary energy from 10 PeV up to 1 EeV performed with the KASCADE-Grande experiment. The measurements are confronted with SIBYLL 2.3. The results are focused on the dependence of the total muon number and the lateral density distribution of muons in EAS on the zenith angle and the total number of charged particles in the shower. We also present updated results of a detailed study of the attenuation length of shower muons, which reveal a deviation between the measured data and the predictions of the post-LHC hadronic interaction models SIBYLL 2.3, QGSJET-II-04 and EPOS-LHC.

Highlights

At very high-energies, collisions of cosmic rays with the Earth’s upper atmosphere produce an extensive air shower (EAS) of particles (γ s, e±’s, muons, hadrons, etc.) in the forward direction, whose study can provide valuable information over the main properties of the primary particle
We present preliminary results obtained from three tests of the above post-LHC models using shower muons measured with the KASCADE-Grande observatory
3.1 Muon radial density distributions The purpose of this analysis is to compare the predictions of SIBYLL 2.3 and the KASCADE-Grande measurements on the mean muon lateral distributions at the shower plane, ρμ(r), at different zenith angles and log10(Nch) intervals

Summary

Introduction

At very high-energies, collisions of cosmic rays with the Earth’s upper atmosphere produce an extensive air shower (EAS) of particles (γ s, e±’s, muons, hadrons, etc.) in the forward direction, whose study can provide valuable information over the main properties of the primary particle. A lot of progress has been done towards the reduction of such uncertainties motivated, in part, by the results of measurements at the LHC [1] In this regard, several models were updated, for instance, SIBYLL. To check the reliability of such models at the energies relevant for EAS studies, the predictions of the models can be compared with data from air shower observatories. In this regard, the study of the shower muons becomes extremely useful, since they are sensitive to the hadronic interactions that occur in the early phases of the EAS development [5]. We present preliminary results obtained from three tests of the above post-LHC models using shower muons measured with the KASCADE-Grande observatory

Objectives

Results

Conclusion