The effect of improved high-energy muon cross-sections

TL;DR

This paper presents improved analytical calculations for high-energy muon interactions, reducing systematic uncertainties and enhancing simulation precision for neutrino and cosmic ray experiments.

Contribution

It introduces new, more accurate cross-section calculations for muon interactions at TeV energies, implemented in the PROPOSAL simulation tool.

Findings

Maximum deviation of 3% from standard cross-sections

Reduced systematic uncertainties below 1%

Enhanced muon flux and energy loss modeling

Abstract

A precise simulation of muons with energies above a TeV is crucial for neutrino telescopes or cosmic ray experiments. To further increase the precision of these simulations, improved cross-section calculations are needed. At these energies, the interaction probability is dominated by bremsstrahlung for large energy losses and electron-positron pair production for small energy losses. Improved analytical calculations for these processes were developed with more precise screening functions of the target atom as well as higher order corrections reducing the systematic uncertainties below the percent level. The new calculations are already implemented in the new version of the lepton propagator PROPOSAL, which was designed to be highly performant for the propagation through large volumes of media using interpolation tables and to do systematic studies with its multiple available cross-section calculations. The new calculations of the differential cross-section result in a maximum deviation of 3 percent to the current standard. Their effects on the muon simulation with the resulting flux and energy loss distribution are presented.