The muon component in extensive air showers and new p+C data in fixed target experiments
- Institut fuer Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Postfach 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe (Germany)
One of the most promising approaches to determine the energy spectrum and composition of the cosmic rays with energies above 1015 eV is the measurement of the number of electrons and muons produced in extensive air showers (EAS). Therefore simulation of air showers using electromagnetic and hadronic interaction models are necessary. These simulations show uncertainties which come mainly from hadronic interaction models. One aim of this work is to specify the low energy hadronic interactions which are important for the muon production in EAS. Therefore we simulate extensive air showers with a modified version of the simulation package CORSIKA. In particular we investigate in detail the energy and the phase space regions of secondary particle production, which are most important for muon production. This phase space region is covered by fixed target experiments at CERN. In the second part of this work we present preliminary momentum spectra of secondary {pi}+ and {pi}- in p+C collisions at 12 GeV/c measured with the HARP spectrometer at the PS accelerator at CERN. In addition we use the new p+C NA49 data at 158 GeV/c to check the reliability of hadronic interaction models for muon production in EAS. Finally, possibilities to measure relevant quantities of hadron production in existing and planned accelerator experiments are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 21054991
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 896, Issue 1; Conference: Hadronic shower simulation workshop, Batavia, IL (United States), 6-8 Sep 2006; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2720466; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CARBON 12 TARGET
CERN
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONS
ENERGY SPECTRA
EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS
GEV RANGE
MULTIPARTICLE SPECTROMETERS
MUONS
PARTICLE IDENTIFICATION
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PHASE SPACE
PIONS MINUS
PIONS PLUS
PROTON REACTIONS