2017/07/25 by W.D. Apel, Grande Collaboration, W. D. Apel +61 · 57 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Atmosphere (unit) #Attenuation #Attenuation length #Content (measure theory) #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Hadron #Large Hadron Collider #Meteorology #Muon #Nuclear physics #Optics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Zenith #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.07.001
published in Astroparticle Physics 95, 25-43 (Elsevier BV) · Published in Astroparticle Physics 95 (2017) 25-43
openalex publication_date 2017/07/25 · openalex created_date 2017/07/31 · arxiv created 2018/01/17 · arxiv updated 2018/01/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The evolution of the muon content of very high energy air showers (EAS) in the atmosphere is investigated with data of the KASCADE-Grande observatory. For this purpose, the muon attenuation length in the atmosphere is obtained to Λμ=1256±85−232+229(syst)g/cm2 from the experimental data for shower energies between 1016.3 and 1017.0 eV. Comparison of this quantity with predictions of the high-energy hadronic interaction models QGSJET-II-02, SIBYLL 2.1, QGSJET-II-04 and EPOS-LHC reveals that the attenuation of the muon content of measured EAS in the atmosphere is lower than predicted. Deviations are, however, less significant with the post-LHC models. The presence of such deviations seems to be related to a difference between the simulated and the measured zenith angle evolutions of the lateral muon density distributions of EAS, which also causes a discrepancy between the measured absorption lengths of the density of shower muons and the predicted ones at large distances from the EAS core. The studied deficiencies show that all four considered hadronic interaction models fail to describe consistently the zenith angle evolution of the muon content of EAS in the aforesaid energy regime.