Hadronic Multiparticle Production at Ultra-High Energies and Extensive Air Showers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different extrapolations of hadronic interaction models affect the predictions of extensive air showers at ultra-high energies, highlighting the uncertainties in cosmic ray property measurements.

Contribution

It introduces an ad hoc modification approach to standard hadronic models, systematically studying their impact on air shower observables and their model independence.

Findings

Modified interaction features significantly alter air shower predictions.

Results are largely independent of the underlying hadronic model used.

Implications for interpreting cosmic ray data are discussed.

Abstract

Studies of the nature of cosmic ray particles at the highest energies are based on the measurement of extensive air showers. Most cosmic ray properties can therefore only be obtained from the interpretation of air shower data and are thus depending on predictions of hadronic interaction models at ultra-high energies. We discuss different scenarios of model extrapolations from accelerator data to air shower energies and investigate their impact on the corresponding air shower predictions. To explore the effect of different extrapolations by hadronic interaction models we developed an ad hoc model. This ad hoc model is based on the modification of the output of standard hadronic interaction event generators within the air shower simulation process and allows us to study the impact of changing interaction features on the air shower development. In a systematic study we demonstrate the resulting changes of important air shower observables and also discuss them in terms of the predictions of the Heitler model of air shower cascades. It is found that the results of our ad hoc modifications are, to a large extend, independent of the choice of the underlying hadronic interaction model.