Self-consistent approach for measuring the energy spectra and composition of cosmic rays and determining the properties of hadronic interactions at high energy

TL;DR

This paper proposes a self-consistent method combining accelerator and astrophysics data to measure cosmic ray energy spectra and composition, aiming to improve understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions beyond current models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated approach to determine cosmic ray properties and test high-energy interaction models across a broad energy and phase space.

Findings

Identifies limitations of current interaction models in explaining air shower data.

Proposes a multi-experiment strategy to improve model constraints.

Aims to unify cosmic ray composition and energy spectrum measurements.

Abstract

Air showers, produced by the interaction of energetic cosmic rays with the atmosphere, are an excellent alternative to study particle physics at energies beyond any human-made particle accelerator. For that, it is necessary to identify first the mass composition of the primary cosmic ray (and its energy). None of the existing high energy interaction models have been able to reproduce coherently all air shower observables over the entire energy and zenith angle phase space. This is despite having tried all possible combinations for the cosmic ray mass composition. This proposal outlines a self-consistent strategy to study high energy particle interactions and identify the energy spectra and mass composition of cosmic rays. This strategy involves the participation of different particle accelerators and astrophysics experiments. This is important to cover the entire cosmic ray energy range and a larger phase-space of shower observables to probe the high energy interaction models.