Testing hadronic interaction packages at cosmic ray energies

TL;DR

This paper compares different hadronic interaction models used in cosmic ray air shower simulations, focusing on their predictions of secondary particles, especially in high-energy and diffractive events.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparative analysis of hadronic interaction packages at cosmic ray energies, highlighting differences in secondary particle outputs.

Findings

Significant variations in secondary particle predictions among models.

Insights into the modeling of diffractive interactions at high energies.

Implications for interpreting cosmic ray air shower data.

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the secondary particles output of the main hadronic interaction packages used in simulations of extensive air showers is presented. Special attention is given to the study of events with very energetic leading secondary particles, including diffractive interactions.