A model for the transport of muons in extensive air showers

TL;DR

This paper presents a simplified model for muon transport in extensive air showers, aiming to reconstruct their production distributions and improve understanding of the hadronic cascade.

Contribution

It introduces a new, simplified propagation model for muons in air showers, validated against full Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Model accurately reproduces ground muon distributions

Simplifies analysis of muon propagation in air showers

Supports experimental reconstruction of muon production

Abstract

In this article we identify the key elements that govern the propagation of muons from the production in extensive air showers to ground. We describe a model based on simple assumptions that propagates the muons starting from the few relevant distributions at production. We compare the results to the ground distributions given by a full air shower Monte Carlo. This study is motivated by the need of modeling the muon component in extensive air showers with the goal of experimentally reconstructing their distributions at production, which act as a footprint of the hadronic cascade.