Abstract
Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers probe particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators. Here we introduce a new method to test hadronic interaction models without relying on the absolute energy calibration, and apply it to events with primary energy 6–16 EeV (), whose longitudinal development and lateral distribution were simultaneously measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The average hadronic shower is () times larger than predicted using the leading LHC-tuned models EPOS-LHC (QGSJetII-04), with a corresponding excess of muons.
- Received 23 April 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.192001
© 2016 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Viewpoint
Cosmic-Ray Showers Reveal Muon Mystery
Published 31 October 2016
The Pierre Auger Observatory has detected more muons from cosmic-ray showers than predicted by the most up-to-date particle-physics models.
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