The proton-air inelastic cross-section measurement at $\sqrt{s} \approx $ 2 TeV from EAS-TOP experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports a measurement of the proton-air inelastic cross section at approximately 2 TeV using the EAS-TOP extensive air shower data, providing insights into high-energy cosmic ray interactions and their relation to proton-proton cross sections.

Contribution

The study presents a novel measurement of the proton-air inelastic cross section at TeV energies using cosmic ray data, including analysis of systematic uncertainties and model comparisons.

Findings

Measured girin = 338  21(stat)  19(syst) mb at pprox 2 TeV

Derived absorption length from flux attenuation at different zenith angles

Comparison with high energy interaction models and proton-proton cross section data

Abstract

The proton-air inelastic cross section value \sigmapairin=338$\pm$21({\it stat})$\pm$19({\it syst})-28({\it syst}) mb at $\sqrt{s} \approx $ 2 TeV has been measured by the EAS-TOP Extensive Air Shower experiment. The absorption length of cosmic ray proton primaries cascades reaching the maximum development at the observation level is obtained from the flux attenuation for different zenith angles (i.e. atmospheric depths). The analysis, including the effects of the heavier primaries contribution and systematic uncertainties, is described. The experimental result is compared with different high energy interaction models and the relationships with the {\it pp} ($\bar pp$) total cross section measurements are discussed.