Published April 16, 2021
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Measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive air showers with the Pierre Auger observatory

Creators

  • 1. Radboud University Nijmegen
  • 2. Instituto Superior Técnico
  • 3. INAF
  • 4. University of Adelaide
  • 5. Balseiro Institute
  • 6. National Technological University
  • 7. National Scientific and Technical Research Council
  • 8. University of Santiago de Compostela
  • 9. INFN, Sezione di Torino, Torino, Italy.
  • 10. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  • 11. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Torino, Torino, Italy.
  • 12. City University of New York
  • 13. INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy.
  • 14. RWTH Aachen University
  • 15. Observatorio Pierre Auger and Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Malargüe, Argentina.
  • 16. Politehnica University of Bucharest
  • 17. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
  • 18. "Horia Hulubei" National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania.
  • 19. Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini," Università di Napoli "Federico II," Napoli, Italy.
  • 20. University of Wuppertal
  • 21. University of Grenoble
  • 22. Max Planck Society
  • 23. Université Paris-Saclay
  • 24. Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università dell'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
  • 25. INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L'Aquila), Italy.
  • 26. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • 27. University of São Paulo
  • 28. Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, Krakow, Poland.
  • 29. Colorado State University
  • 30. Folkwang University of the Arts
  • 31. University of Granada
  • 32. VU University Amsterdam
  • 33. University of Catania
  • 34. Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México.
  • 35. University of Milan
  • 36. INFN, Sezione di Lecce, Lecce, Italy.
  • 37. State University of Campinas
  • 38. Université libre de Bruxelles
  • 39. Palacký University, Olomouc
  • 40. University of Delaware
  • 41. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica "E. De Giorgi," Università del Salento, Lecce, Italy.
  • 42. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila, Italy.
  • 43. Polytechnic University of Milan
  • 44. Case Western Reserve University
  • 45. University of Buenos Aires
  • 46. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • 47. Federal Fluminense University
  • 48. National Autonomous University of Mexico
  • 49. Federal University of Paraná
  • 50. National University of La Plata
  • 51. Fermilab
  • 52. ASTRON
  • 53. University of Chicago
  • 54. New York University
  • 55. Michigan Technological University
  • 56. University of Nova Gorica
  • 57. National University of Rosario
  • 58. INFN, Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy.
  • 59. Faculty of Astrophysics, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland.
  • 60. Observatorio Pierre Auger, Malargüe, Argentina.
  • 61. State University of Feira de Santana
  • 62. Institute of Space Science, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania.
  • 63. Colorado School of Mines
  • 64. Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca
  • 65. Universidade Federal do ABC
  • 66. University of Paris
  • 67. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
  • 68. University of Hamburg
  • 69. Louisiana State University
  • 70. University of Rome Tor Vergata
  • 71. Pennsylvania State University
  • 72. Charles University in Prague
  • 73. Industrial University of Santander
  • 74. Instituto Politécnico Nacional
  • 75. INFN, Sezione di Roma "Tor Vergata," Roma, Italy.
  • 76. University of Groningen
  • 77. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • 78. Faculty of High-Energy Astrophysics, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland.
  • 79. Universidad de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia.
  • 80. University of Amsterdam
  • 81. University of Leeds
  • 82. CINVESTAV

Description

We present the first measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive air showers produced by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We find that the measured fluctuations are in good agreement with predictions from air shower simulations. This observation provides new insights into the origin of the previously reported deficit of muons in air shower simulations and constrains models of hadronic interactions at ultrahigh energies. Our measurement is compatible with the muon deficit originating from small deviations in the predictions from hadronic interaction models of particle production that accumulate as the showers develop.
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