Constraints and measurements of hadronic interactions in extensive air showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the Pierre Auger Observatory measures muon content, production depth, and proton-air cross sections in extensive air showers to better understand hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies beyond accelerator capabilities.

Contribution

It presents new measurements constraining hadronic interaction models using extensive air shower data at energies of 57 TeV per nucleon.

Findings

Muon content measurements constrain hadronic models

Muon production depth provides insights into shower development

Proton-air cross section measured at 57 TeV energy

Abstract

The characteristics of extensive air showers are sensitive to the details of hadronic interactions at energies and in kinematic regions beyond those tested by human-made accelerators. Uncertainties on extrapolations of the hadronic interaction models in these regions hamper the interpretation of the ultra high energy cosmic ray data in terms of primary mass composition. We report on how the Pierre Auger Observatory is able to constrain the hadronic interaction models by measuring the muon content and muon production depth of air showers and also by measuring the proton-air cross section for particle production at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 57 TeV.