Muon production height studies with the air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande

The energy spectrum of cosmic rays between 10 16 eV and 10 18 eV, derived from measurements of the shower size (total number of charged particles) and the total muon number of extensive air showers by the KASCADE-Grande experiment, is described. The resulting all-particle energy spectrum exhibits strong hints for a hardening of the spectrum at approximately 2 · 10 16 eV and a significant steepening at ≈ 8 · 10 16 eV. These observations challenge the view that the spectrum is a single power law between knee and ankle. Possible scenarios generating such features are discussed in terms of astrophysical processes that may explain the transition region from galactic to extragalactic origin of cosmic rays.

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“…In fact, the analysis of muon production heights with the muon tracking detector of KASCADE leads to a similar conclusion, see ref [19]…”

mentioning

confidence: 58%

The spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays measured with KASCADE-Grande

Apel

Arteaga‐Velázquez²,

Bekk

et al. 2012

Astroparticle Physics

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166

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“…If they originate from charged primary CRs, they are dominated by muons since their electromagnetic component is attenuated after traversing large distances in the atmosphere. Observations of such events could help to study the high-energy muon content of EAS and to test hadron interaction models by looking for anomalies in this sector at PeV energies, such as those which have been observed at higher energies by observatories like the KASCADE-Grande detector [95,96], the Pierre Auger observatory [53,97] or the Yakutsk experiment [98]. The former has observed, for example, that the actual attenuation length of shower muons at 10 17 eV is bigger than the predictions of hadron interaction models [96], while the latter ones have measured an excess of muons in ultra-highenergy EAS in comparison with the models, a problem which is known as the muon puzzle [99].…”

Section: Cosmic Ray Physics With Mathuslamentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Lived Particles at the Energy Frontier: The MATHUSLA Physics Case

Curtin,

Drewes,

McCullough

et al. 2018

Preprint

167

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We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of Standard Model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the µm scale up to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis limit of ∼ 10 7 m. Neutral LLPs with lifetimes above ∼ 100m are particularly difficult to probe, as the sensitivity of the LHC main detectors is limited by challenging backgrounds, triggers, and small acceptances. MATHUSLA is a proposal for a minimally instrumented, large-volume surface detector near ATLAS or CMS. It would search for neutral LLPs produced in HL-LHC collisions by reconstructing displaced vertices (DVs) in a low-background environment, extending the sensitivity of the main detectors by orders of magnitude in the long-lifetime regime. In this white paper we study the LLP physics opportunities afforded by a MATHUSLA-like detector at the HL-LHC. We develop a model-independent approach to describe the sensitivity of MATHUSLA to BSM LLP signals, and compare it to DV and missing energy searches at AT-LAS or CMS. We then explore the BSM motivations for LLPs in considerable detail, presenting a large number of new sensitivity studies. While our discussion is especially oriented towards the long-lifetime regime at MATHUSLA, this survey underlines the importance of a varied LLP search program at the LHC in general. By synthesizing these results into a general discussion of the top-down and bottom-up motivations for LLP searches, it is our aim to demonstrate the exceptional strength and breadth of the physics case for the construction of the MATHUSLA detector.

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“…• Muon production depth. The longitudinal muon density profile cannot be observed optically, since the small muon signal is overwhelmed by the electron signal, the related profile of muon production depths has been observed based on the signal arrival times in the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory (Aab et al 2014b) and via the muon tracking detectors of the KASCADE-Grande experiment (Apel et al 2011). The profile contains sensitive information about the hadronic cascade and about the cosmic-ray mass composition.…”

Section: Results Connected To the Muon Puzzlementioning

confidence: 99%

The Muon Puzzle in cosmic-ray induced air showers and its connection to the Large Hadron Collider

Albrecht

Cazón

Dembinski

et al. 2022

Astrophys Space Sci

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High-energy cosmic rays are observed indirectly by detecting the extensive air showers initiated in Earth’s atmosphere. The interpretation of these observations relies on accurate models of air shower physics, which is a challenge and an opportunity to test QCD under extreme conditions. Air showers are hadronic cascades, which give rise to a muon component through hadron decays. The muon number is a key observable to infer the mass composition of cosmic rays. Air shower simulations with state-of-the-art QCD models show a significant muon deficit with respect to measurements; this is called the Muon Puzzle. By eliminating other possibilities, we conclude that the most plausible cause for the muon discrepancy is a deviation in the composition of secondary particles produced in high-energy hadronic interactions from current model predictions. The muon discrepancy starts at the TeV scale, which suggests that this deviation is observable at the Large Hadron Collider. An enhancement of strangeness production has been observed at the LHC in high-density events, which can potentially explain the puzzle, but the impact of the effect on forward produced hadrons needs further study, in particular with future data from oxygen beam collisions.

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Muon production height studies with the air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande

Cited by 30 publications

References 39 publications

The spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays measured with KASCADE-Grande

The spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays measured with KASCADE-Grande

Long-Lived Particles at the Energy Frontier: The MATHUSLA Physics Case

The Muon Puzzle in cosmic-ray induced air showers and its connection to the Large Hadron Collider

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