Probing the mass composition of primary cosmic rays from the effect of the geomagnetic field on EAS muons: A simulation study

TL;DR

This simulation study investigates how Earth's geomagnetic field influences muon distributions in inclined cosmic ray air showers, revealing potential for determining primary cosmic ray composition.

Contribution

It demonstrates that geomagnetic effects on muon distributions can be used to infer the mass composition of primary cosmic rays.

Findings

Muon distribution shapes are affected by Earth's magnetic field.

The correlation between geomagnetic influence and muon content is sensitive to cosmic ray mass.

Simulation results suggest a new method for composition analysis.

Abstract

The distribution of the muon content of highly inclined Monte Carlo cosmic ray showers is affected by the influence of Earth's geomagnetic field. It is found that the shapes of the positive and negative muon distributions get affected/modified by the influence of the Earth's geomagnetic field. Such a correlation between the earth's geomagnetic activity and the cosmic ray (CR) air shower muons is found sensitive to the primary cosmic ray mass composition.