Sub-TeV hadronic interaction model differences and their impact on air showers

TL;DR

This paper examines how differences in sub-TeV hadronic interaction models affect predictions of cosmic ray air showers, highlighting uncertainties in particle spectra at energies where model discrepancies are greatest.

Contribution

It analyzes the impact of model uncertainties on air shower simulations, focusing on the transition energy region between high and low energy models.

Findings

Significant discrepancies in particle spectra predictions among models.

Model uncertainties notably influence air shower development.

Transition region energies are critical for accurate modeling.

Abstract

In the sub-TeV regime, the most widely used hadronic interaction models disagree significantly in their predictions of particle spectra from cosmic ray induced air showers. We investigate the nature and impact of model uncertainties, focussing on air shower primaries with energies around the transition between high and low energy hadronic interaction models, where the dissimilarities are largest and which constitute the bulk of the interactions in air showers.