Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Ahn, E. J.; Samarai, I. Al; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Allekotte, I.; Allen, J.; Allison, P.; Almela, A.; Castillo, J.; Álvarez-Muñiz, J.; Ambrosio, M.; Anastasi, Gioacchino Alex; Anchordoqui, Luis A.; Andrada, Belén; Andringa, S.; Aramo, C.; Arqueros, F.; Arsene, N.; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Aublin, J.; Ávila, G.; Badescu, A. M.; Baus, C.; Beatty, J. J.; Becker, Karl‐Heinz; Bellido, J. A.; Bérat, C.; Bertaina, M.; Bertou, X.; Biermann, Peter L.; Billoir, P.; Biteau, J.; Blaess, S. G.; Blanco, A.; Blažek, Jiří; Bleve, C.; Blümer, H.; Bohã̌cov́a, M.; Boncioli, D.; Bonifazi, C.; Borodai, N.; Botti, Ana Martina; Brack, J.; Brancus, I. M.; Bretz, T.; Bridgeman, A.; Briechle, Florian Lukas; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Buitink, S.; Buscemi, Mario; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Caccianiga, B.; Caccianiga, Lorenzo; Cancio, A.; Canfora, F.; Caramete, L.; Caruso, R.; Castellina, A.; Cataldi, G.; Cazón, L.; Cester, R.; Chavez, A. G.; Чиавасса, А.; Chinellato, J. A.; Diaz, J. C.; Chudoba, J.; Clay, R. W.; Colalillo, R.; Coleman, Alan; Collica, L.; Coluccia, M. R.; Conceição, R.; Contreras, F.; Cooper, M. J.; Coutu, S.; Covault, C. E.; Cronin, J. W.; Dallier, R.; D’Amico, S.; Daniel, B.; Dasso, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; Almeida, R. M. de; Jong, S. J. De; Mauro, G. De; Neto, J. R. T. de Mello; Mitri, I. De; Oliveira, Jaime de; Souza, V. de; Debatin, J.; Peral, L. del; Deligny, O.; Dhital, N.; Giulio, C. Di; Matteo, Armando di; Castro, M. L. Díaz; Diogo, F.; Dobrigkeit, C.; D’Olivo, J. C.; Dorofeev, A.; Anjos, Rita Cassia dos; Dova, M. T.; Dundovic, A.; Ebr, Jan; Engel, R.; Erdmann, M.; Erfani, Mostafa; Escobar, C. O.; Espadanal, J.; Etchegoyen, A.; Falcke, H.; Fang, Ke; Farrar, Glennys R.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Ferguson, A. P.; Fick, B.; Figueira, J. M.; Filevich, A.; Filipčić, A.; Fratu, Octavian; Freire, M. M.; Fujii, Toshihiro; Fuster, Alan; Gallo, F.; García, Beatriz; Garcia-Pinto, D.; Gaté, F.; Gemmeke, H.; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Ghia, P. L.; Giaccari, U.; Giammarchi, M.; Giller, M.; Głas, D.; Gläser, Christian; Glass, H.; Golup, G.; Berisso, M. Gómez; Vitale, Primo F. Gómez; González, Nicolás Martín; Gookin, B.; Gordon, J.; Gorgi, A.; Gorham, P. W.; Gouffon, P.; Griffith, N.; Grillo, A. F.; Grubb, Trent D.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Hampel, Matías Rolf; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harrison, T. A.; Harton, J. L.; Hasankiadeh, Q. Dorosti; Haungs, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Heimann, P.; Hervé, A. E.; Hill, G. C.; Hojvat, C.; Hollon, N.; Holt, E.; Homola, P.; Hörandel, J. R.; Horváth, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Huege, T.; Hulsman, J.; Insolia, A.; Isar, P. G.; Jandt, I.; Jansen, S.; Jarne, C.; Johnsen, Jeffrey A.; Josebachuili, M.; Kääpä, Alex; Kambeitz, O.; Kampert, Karl-Heinz; Kasper, P. A.; Katkov, I.; Keilhauer, B.; Kemp, E.; Kieckhafer, R. M.; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Krause, R.; Krohm, N.; Kuempel, D.; Mezek, G. Kukec; Kunka, N.; Awad, A. Kuotb; LaHurd, D.; Latronico, L.; Lauscher, M.; Lautridou, P.; Lebrun, P.; Legumina, R.; Oliveira, M. A. Leigui de; Letessier‐Selvon, A.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Link, K.; Lopes, L.; López, R.; Casado, A. López; Lucero, A.; Malacari, M.; Mallamaci, M.; Mandat, D.; Mantsch, P.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Marin, V.; Maris, Ioana Codrina; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Martínez, H.; Bravo, O. Martínez; Meza, J. J. Masías; Mathes, H. J.; Mathys, S.; Matthews, John; Matthiae, G.; Maurizio, D.; Mayotte, E.; Mazur, Péter; Medina, C.; Medina‐Tanco, G.; Mello, V. B. B.; Melo, D.; Menshikov, Alexander; Messina, S.; Micheletti, M. I.; Middendorf, L.; Minaya, I. A.; Miramonti, L.; Mitrica, B.; Molina-Bueno, L.; Mollerach, Silvia; Montanet, F.; Morello, C.; Mostafá, M.; Moura, C. A.; Müller, G.; Müller, M. A.; Müller, S.; Naranjo, I. N.; Navas, S.; Nečesal, P.; Nellen, L.; Nelles, A.; Neuser, J.; Nguyen, P.; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.; Niechciol, Marcus; Niemietz, L.; Niggemann, T.; Nitz, D.; Nosek, D.; Novotný, Vladimír; Nožka, H.; Núñez, Luis A.; Ochilo, L.; Oikonomou, Foteini; Olinto, Angela V.; Selmi-Dei, D. Pakk; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Papenbreer, P.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Paul, T.; Pech, M.; Pedreira, F.; Pękala, Jan; Pelayo, R.; Peña-Rodríguez, Jesús; Pepe, I. M.; Pereira, L. A. S.; Perrone, L.; Petermann, E.; Peters, C. F. W.; Petrera, S.; Phuntsok, J.; Piegaia, R.; Pierog, T.; Pieroni, P.; Pimenta, M.; Pirronello, V.; Platino, M.; Plum, M.; Porowski, C.; Prado, R. R.; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Quel, E. J.; Querchfeld, S.; Quinn, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Ravel, O.; Ravignani, D.; Revenu, B.; Řídký, J.; Risse, M.; Ristori, P.; Rizi, Vincenzo; Carvalho, W. Rodrigues de; Rojo, Juan; Rodríguez-Friás, M. D.; Rogozin, D.; Rosado, J.; Roth, M.; Roulet, Esteban; Rovero, A. C.; Saffi, S. J.; Sǎftoiu, A.; Salazar, H.; Saleh, A.; Greus, F. Salesa; Salina, G.; Gómez, J. D. Sanabria; Sánchez, F.; Sánchez-Lucas, P.; Santos, Eva; Santos, Edivaldo Moura; Sarazin, F.; Sarkar, Biswajit; Sarmento, R.; Sarmiento-Cano, C.; Sato, R.; Scarso, C.; Schauer, Markus; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schmidt, D.; Scholten, Olaf; Schoorlemmer, H.; Schovánek, Petr; Schröder, Frank G.; Schulz, Alexander; Schulz, J.; Schumacher, J.; Sciutto, S. J.; Segreto, A.; Settimo, M.; Shadkam, A.; Shellard, R. C.; Sigl, G.; Sima, O.; Śmiałkowski, A.; Šmída, R.; Snow, G. R.; Sommers, P.; Sonntag, S.; Sorokin, J.; Squartini, R.; Stanca, Denis; Stanič, S.; Stapleton, J.; Stasielak, J.; Strafella, F.; Stutz, A.; Suárez, F.; Durán, M. Suarez; Sudholz, T.; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Sutherland, M.; Swain, J.; Szadkowski, Z.; Taborda, O. A.; Tapia, A.; Tepe, A.; Theodoro, V. M.; Timmermans, C.; Peixoto, C. J. Todero; Tomankova, L.; Tomé, B.; Tonachini, A.; Elipe, G. Torralba; Machado, D. Torres; Trávničék, P.; Trini, M.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, Michael; Urban, M.; Valbuena-Delgado, A.; Galicia, J. F. Valdés; Valiño, I.; Valore, L.; Aar, G. van; Bodegom, Peter M. van; Berg, A. M. van den; Vliet, A. van; Varela, E.; Cárdenas, B. Vargas; Varner, G.; Vázquez, J. R.; Vázquez, R. A.; Veberič, D.; Verzi, V.; Vícha, J.; Videla, M.; Villaseñor, L.; Vorobiov, S.; Wahlberg, H.; Wainberg, O.; Walz, D.; Watson, Alan; Weber, M.; Weindl, A.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczyński, H.; Winchen, T.; Wittkowski, David; Wundheiler, B.; Wykes, S.; Yang, Lili; Yapici, T.; Yelos, D.; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zepeda, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Ziolkowski, M.; Zong, Z.; Zuccarello, F.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.117.192001

Cited by 199 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Three different experiments studied the muon deficit in an energy range which overlaps with the one of this work: First, the Pierre Auger Observatory reported a muon deficit of 30 % to 80 % in the mixed composition scenarios [11,13]. Second, the Telescope Array Collaboration observed a deficit of ∼ 67 % against proton-induced QGSJetII-04 simulations, the latter being in agreement with the composition derived from their X max measurements [12].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Muon deficit in air shower simulations estimated from AGASA muon measurements

2020

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In this work, direct measurements of the muon density at 1000 m from the shower axis obtained by the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) are analysed. The selected events have zenith angles θ ≤ 36 • and reconstructed energies in the range 18.83 ≤ log 10 (ER/eV) ≤ 19.46. These are compared to the predictions corresponding to proton, iron, and mixed composition scenarios obtained by using the high-energy hadronic interaction models EPOS-LHC, QGSJetII-04, and Sibyll2.3c. The mass fractions of the mixed composition scenarios are taken from the fits to the depth of the shower maximum distributions performed by the Pierre Auger Collaboration. The cross-calibrated energy scale from the Spectrum Working Group [D. Ivanov, for the Pierre Auger Collaboration and the Telescope Array Collaboration, PoS(ICRC2017) 498 (2017)] is used to combine results from different experiments. The analysis shows that the AGASA data are compatible with a heavier composition with respect to the one predicted by the mixed composition scenarios. Interpreting this as a muon deficit in air shower simulations, the incompatibility is quantified. The muon density obtained from AGASA data is greater than that of the mixed composition scenarios by a factor of 1.49 ± 0.11 (stat) ± 0.18 (syst), 1.54 ± 0.12 (stat) ± 0.18 (syst), and 1.66 ± 0.13 (stat) ± 0.20 (syst) for EPOS-LHC, Sibyll2.3c, and QGSJetII-04, respectively.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Muon deficit in air shower simulations estimated from AGASA muon measurements

2020

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“…However, there is mounting evidence that a e-mail: michael.unger@kit.edu current hadronic interaction models do not provide a satisfactory description of the muon production in air showers and that there is a deficit in the number of muons predicted at the ground level by the models when compared to the air shower measurements (see Refs. [6][7][8][9][10]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of meson resonance production in $$\pi ^-+$$ π - + C interactions at SPS energies

et al. 2017

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We present measurements of ρ 0 , ω and K * 0 spectra in π − + C production interactions at 158 GeV/c and ρ 0 spectra at 350 GeV/c using the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. Spectra are presented as a function of the Feynman's variable x F in the range 0 < x F < 1 and 0 < x F < 0.5 for 158 and 350 GeV/c respectively. Furthermore, we show comparisons with previous measurements and predictions of several hadronic interaction models. These measurements are essential for a better understanding of hadronic shower development and for improving the modeling of cosmic ray air showers.

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“…The number of muons in the Auger data is also larger than the MC prediction for iron. In addition to that, the Auger group reported that the observed hadronic signal in UHECR air showers is 1.61 ± 0.21(1.33 ± 0.16) times larger than the MC prediction values for QGSJET II-04 [6] (EPOS-LHC [7]) model, including statistical and systematic errors [8]. Thus, the Auger group claimed the excess of muons in the data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Study of muons from ultra-high energy cosmic ray air showers measured with the Telescope Array experiment

Takeishi¹

2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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The origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) is a long-standing mystery. The aim of the Telescope Array (TA) experiment is to reveal this by observing the spectrum, anisotropy, and mass composition by utilizing an array of surface detectors (SD) and fluorescence detectors. One of the uncertainties in UHECR observation derives from the hadronic interaction model used for air shower Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The number of muons observed at the ground from UHECR induced air showers is expected to depend upon the composition of primary cosmic rays. The MC prediction depends also on hadronic interaction models. One may test the hadronic interaction models by comparing the measured number of muons with the MC prediction. We studied muon densities in the UHE extensive air showers by analyzing the signal of surface detector stations for highly inclined showers which should have high muon purity. A high muon purity condition is imposed that requires the geometry of the shower and relative position of the given station. The condition implies that the muons dominate the signal, i.e. contribute about ∼65% of the total signal. The number of particles from air showers observed on the condition of muon purity is typically 1.88 ± 0.08 (stat.) ± 0.43 (syst.) times larger than the MC prediction value using the QGSJET II-03 model for protons. The lateral distribution of the muons also falls more slowly in the data than the MC, causing larger discrepancy at larger lateral distance. The same feature was also obtained for other hadronic models, such as QGSJET II-04.

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Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Cited by 199 publications

References 32 publications

Muon deficit in air shower simulations estimated from AGASA muon measurements

Muon deficit in air shower simulations estimated from AGASA muon measurements

Measurement of meson resonance production in $$\pi ^-+$$ π - + C interactions at SPS energies

Study of muons from ultra-high energy cosmic ray air showers measured with the Telescope Array experiment

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