Strong colour fields and cosmic ray showers at ultra-high energies

TL;DR

This paper proposes that strong colour fields and percolation effects in ultra-high energy hadronic collisions increase baryon/meson ratios, helping explain cosmic ray shower features and muon excess observed at energies above 10^18 eV.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking strong colour fields and percolation to cosmic ray shower characteristics, aligning with observed muon excess and depth of maximum data.

Findings

Increased baryon/meson ratio explains muon excess.

Model matches observed depth of shower maximum.

Cross-section growth consistent with Froissart bound.

Abstract

We argue that the increase of the ratio baryon/meson due to the presence of strong colour fields and percolation in ultra-high energy hadronic collisions, helps to explain some of the global features of ultra-high energy cosmic ray cascades at E>10^18 eV and, in particular the observed excess in the number of muons with respect to current models of hadronic interactions. A reasonable agreement with the small value and slope of the average depth of shower maximum Xmax vs shower energy -- as seen in data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory -- can be obtained with a fast increase of the p-Air production cross-section compatible with the Froissart bound.