Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-31-2016
Abstract
© 2016 American Physical Society. Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers probe particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators. Here we introduce a new method to test hadronic interaction models without relying on the absolute energy calibration, and apply it to events with primary energy 6-16 EeV (ECM=110-170 TeV), whose longitudinal development and lateral distribution were simultaneously measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The average hadronic shower is 1.33±0.16 (1.61±0.21) times larger than predicted using the leading LHC-tuned models EPOS-LHC (QGSJetII-04), with a corresponding excess of muons.
Publication Title
Physical Review Letters
Recommended Citation
Aab, A.,
Abreu, P.,
Aglietta, M.,
Ahn, E.,
Al Samarai, I.,
Albuquerque, I.,
Allekotte, I.,
Allen, J.,
Allison, P.,
Almela, A.,
Alvarez Castillo, J.,
Alvarez-Muñiz, J.,
Ambrosio, M.,
Anastasi, G.,
Anchordoqui, L.,
Andrada, B.,
Andringa, S.,
Aramo, C.,
Arqueros, F.,
Arsene, N.,
Asorey, H.,
Assis, P.,
Aublin, J.,
Avila, G.,
Badescu, A.,
Baus, C.,
Beatty, J.,
Becker, K.,
Bellido, J.,
Berat, C.,
Bertaina, M.,
&
Bertou, X.
(2016).
Testing Hadronic Interactions at Ultrahigh Energies with Air Showers Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory.
Physical Review Letters,
117(19).
http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.192001
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/10093