Hadronic interaction model Sibyll 2.3d and extensive air showers

TL;DR

This paper introduces Sibyll 2.3d, a revised hadronic interaction model that incorporates new particle production mechanisms and charmed hadrons, improving predictions of air shower observables for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Contribution

The paper presents a new version of Sibyll with enhanced baryon and charm production modeling, constrained by recent collider data, and evaluates its impact on air shower simulations.

Findings

Improved modeling of baryon pair and leading particle production.

Inclusion of charmed hadron production.

Altered predictions for $X_{\rm max}$ and $N_\mu$ in air showers.

Abstract

We present a new version of the hadron interaction event generator Sibyll. While the core ideas of the model have been preserved, the new version handles the production of baryon pairs and leading particles in a new way. In addition, production of charmed hadrons is included. Updates to the model are informed by high-precision measurements of the total and inelastic cross sections with the forward detectors at the LHC that constrain the extrapolation to ultra-high energy. Minimum-bias measurements of particle spectra and multiplicities support the tuning of fragmentation parameters. This paper demonstrates the impact of these changes on air shower observables such as $X_{\rm max}$ and $N_\mu$, drawing comparisons with other contemporary cosmic ray interaction models.