Measurement of attenuation length of the muon content in extensive air showers from 0.3 to 30 PeV with LHAASO

TL;DR

This study measures the muon attenuation length in extensive air showers across 0.3 to 30 PeV energies using LHAASO data, providing insights that favor the EPOS-LHC model over others for high-energy hadronic interactions.

Contribution

First measurement of muon attenuation length in air showers from 0.3 to 30 PeV using LHAASO data, comparing results with multiple hadronic interaction models.

Findings

LHAASO results show shorter attenuation lengths than QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d models.

Data favor the EPOS-LHC model for describing muon content in air showers.

Attenuation length increases with cosmic-ray energy across all models.

Abstract

The attenuation length of the muon content in extensive air showers provides important information regarding the generation and development of air showers. This information can be used not only to improve the description of such showers but also to test fundamental models of hadronic interactions. Using data from the LHAASO-KM2A experiment, the development of the muon content in high-energy air showers was studied. The attenuation length of muon content in the air showers was measured from experimental data in the energy range from 0.3 to 30 PeV using the constant intensity cut method. By comparing the attenuation length of the muon content with predictions from high-energy hadronic interaction models (QGSJET-II-04, SIBYLL 2.3d, and EPOS-LHC), it is evident that LHAASO results are significantly shorter than those predicted by the first two models (QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d) but relatively close to those predicted by the third model (EPOS-LHC). Thus, the LHAASO data favor the EPOS-LHC model over the other two models. The three interaction models confirmed an increasing trend in the attenuation length as the cosmic-ray energy increases.