High-energy cosmic ray fluxes in the Earth atmosphere: calculations vs experiments

TL;DR

This paper presents new calculations of atmospheric cosmic-ray hadron and muon fluxes using various models and compares them with experimental data, analyzing uncertainties from primary flux and hadronic interactions.

Contribution

It introduces updated flux calculations across multiple models and evaluates their agreement with experimental measurements and the impact of uncertainties.

Findings

Calculated fluxes agree with experimental data within uncertainties

Uncertainties in primary flux and hadronic models significantly affect predictions

Comparison highlights strengths and limitations of current models

Abstract

A new calculation of the atmospheric fluxes of cosmic-ray hadrons and muons in the energy range 10-10^5 GeV has been performed for the set of hadron production models, EPOS 1.6, QGSJET II-03, SIBYLL 2.1, and others that are of interest to cosmic ray physicists. The fluxes of secondary cosmic rays at several levels in the atmosphere are computed using directly data of the ATIC-2, GAMMA experiments, and the model proposed recently by Zatsepin and Sokolskaya as well as the parameterization of the primary cosmic ray spectrum by Gaisser and Honda. The calculated energy spectra of the hadrons and muon flux as a function of zenith angle are compared with measurements as well as other calculations. The effect of uncertainties both in the primary cosmic ray flux and hadronic model predictions on the spectra of atmospheric hadrons and muons is considered.