Measurement of the proton-air cross section at √s=57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory

ACORDE: A new application for estimating the dose absorbed by passengers and crews in commercial flights

Atmospheric radiation produced during the interaction of cosmic rays with the atmosphere could be considerably high at typical flight altitudes and constitutes a risk factor for people and avionics onboard the plane. In this work, we present ACORDE, a Monte Carlo-based method to estimate the dose during a commercial flight by using state-of-the-art simulation codes and considering the course travelled, the real-time atmospheric and geomagnetic conditions, and a model of the plane and an anthropomorphic phantom to obtain the effective dose on a flight-by-flight basis.

Determination of the Cosmic-Ray Chemical Composition: Open Issues and Prospects

Cosmic rays are relativistic particles that come to the Earth from outer space. Despite a great effort made in both experimental and theoretical research, their origin is still unknown. One of the main keys to understand their nature is the determination of its chemical composition as a function of primary energy. In this paper, we review the measurements of the mass composition above 1015 eV. We first summarize the main aspects of air shower physics that are relevant in composition analyses. We discuss the composition measurements made by using optical, radio, and surface detectors and the limitations imposed by current high-energy hadronic interaction models that are used to interpret the experimental data. We also review the photons and neutrinos searches conducted in different experiments, which, in addition to being important to understand the nature of cosmic rays, can provide relevant information related to the abundance of heavy or light elements in the flux at the highest energies. Finally, we summarize the future composition measurements that are currently being planned or under development.

Studies of the UHECR Mass Composition and Hadronic Interactions with the FD and SD of the Pierre Auger Observatory

With data on the depth of maximum Xmax collected during more than a decade of operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we report on the inferences on the mass composition of UHECRs in the energy range E = 1017.2 – 1019.6 eV and on the measurements of the proton-air cross section for energies up to 1018.5 eV. We also present the results on Xmax obtained using the information on the particle arrival times recorded by the SD stations allowing us to extend the Xmax measurements up to 1020 eV. The inferences on mass composition, in particular using the data of the SD, are subject to systematic uncertainties due to uncertainties in the description of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies. We discuss this problem with respect to the properties of the muonic component of extensive air-showers as derived from the SD data.

Can strangelets solve the muon puzzle?

In order to examine a muon excess observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory, detailed Monte Carlo simulations were carried out, assuming the existence of strangelets (hypothetical stable lumps of strange quark matter) in the primary cosmic rays. We obtain a rough agreement between the simulations and the data for ordinary nuclei without any contribution of strangelets in the primary flux of cosmic rays.

Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory

I describe some of the results on ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays that have been obtained with the Pierre Auger Observatory. These include measurements of the spectrum, composition and anisotropies. Possible astrophysical scenarios that account for these results are discussed.

Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays: Anomalies, QCD, and LHC data

Measurements of proton and nuclear collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at nucleon-nucleon c.m. energies up to $ \sqrt {S_{NN} } = 13\,{\rm{TeV}} $ have improved our understanding of hadronic interactions at the highest energies reached in collisions of cosmic rays with nuclei in the earth atmosphere, up to $ \sqrt {S_{NN} } $ ≈ 450 TeV. The Monte Carlo event generators (epos, qgsjet, and sibyll) commonly used to describe the air showers generated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR, with ECR ≈ 1017-1020 eV) feature now, after parameter retuning based on LHC Run-I data, more consistent predictions on the nature of the cosmic rays at the tail of the measured spectrum. However, anomalies persist in the data that cannot be accommodated by the models. Among others, the total number of muons (as well as their maximum production depth) remains significantly underestimated (overestimated) by all models. Comparisons of epos, qgsjet, and sibyll predictions to the latest LHC data, and to collider MC generators such as pythia, indicate that improved description of hard multiple minijet production and nuclear effects may help reduce part of the data-model discrepancies, shed light on the UHECR composition approaching the observed ECR ≈ 1020 eV cutoff, and uncover any potential new physics responsible for the observed anomalies.

Probing the π0 spectrum at high-x in proton-Air interactions at ultra-high energies

The average number of muons in air showers and its connection with shower development has been studied extensively in the past. With the upcoming detector upgrades, UHECR observatories will be able to probe higher moments of the distribution of the number of muons. Here a study of the physics of the fluctuations of the muon content is presented. In addition to proving that the fluctuations must be dominated by the first interactions, we show that low-Nμ tail of the shower-to-shower distribution of the number of muons is determined by the high-xL region of the production cross-section of neutral pions in the first interaction.

Measurements and tests of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

Extensive air showers are complex objects, resulting of billions of particle reactions initiated by single cosmic ray at ultra-high-energy. Their characteristics are sensitive both to the mass of the primary cosmic ray and to the details of hadronic interactions. Many of the interactions that determine the shower features occur in kinematic regions and at energies beyond those tested by human-made accelerators.

We will report on the measurement of the proton-air cross section for particle production at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 39 TeV and 56 TeV. We will also show comparisons of post-LHC hadronic interaction models with shower data by studying the moments of the distribution of the depth of the electromagnetic maximum, the number and production depth of muons in air showers, and finally a parameter based on the rise-time of the surface detector signal, sensitive to the electromagnetic and muonic component of the shower. While there is good agreement found for observables based on the electromagnetic shower component, discrepancies are observed for muon-sensitive quantities.

Soft diffraction at LHC

This contribution reviews and compares various LHC results on soft diffraction, in particular elastic scattering, total, inelastic and elastic cross-section, single and double diffraction.

Recent LHC/TOTEM data challenging the standard Regge pole theory

We analyse the recently discovered phenomena in elastic protonproton scattering at the LHC: the low-|t| “break” (departure from the exponential behaviour of the diffraction cone), the accelerating rise with energy of the forward slope B(s), the absence of secondary dips and bumps on the cone and the role of the odderon in the forward phase of the amplitude, ρ(13 TeV) = 0:09 ± 0:01, especially its contribution at the dip region, measured recently by TOTEM. The dip at 13 TeV seems to become more shallow with respect to lower energies, and we attribute this important new phenomena to the odderon contribution. These findings call for a revision of the standeard Regge-pole theory.

Holographic description of total hadronic cross sections at high energies

We investigate the hadron-hadron total cross sections at high energies in the framework of holographic QCD. In our model setup, the involved strong interaction is described by the Brower-Polchinski-Strassler-Tan Pomeron exchange kernel, and the two form factors are obtained from the bottom-up AdS/QCD models. We show that the resulting nucleon-nucleon total cross section is consistent with the experimental data recently measured by the TOTEM collaboration at the LHC. As examples to see the general versatility of the model, we also present our analysis on the pion-nucleon and pion-pion cases, which can be predicted because all the adjustable parameters are fixed by the nucleon-nucleon data.

Measurement of the Inelastic Proton-Proton Cross Section at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC

This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60  μb^{-1} of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt[s] of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region (2.07<|η|<3.86) of the detector. A cross section of 68.1±1.4  mb is measured in the fiducial region ξ=M_{X}^{2}/s>10^{-6}, where M_{X} is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this ξ range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with M_{X}>13  GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross section of 78.1±2.9  mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.

Luminosity-independent measurement of the proton-proton total cross section at √s=8 TeV

The TOTEM collaboration has measured the proton-proton total cross section at √s=8 TeV using a luminosity-independent method. In LHC fills with dedicated beam optics, the Roman pots have been inserted very close to the beam allowing the detection of ~90% of the nuclear elastic scattering events. Simultaneously the inelastic scattering rate has been measured by the T1 and T2 telescopes. By applying the optical theorem, the total proton-proton cross section of (101.7±2.9) mb has been determined, well in agreement with the extrapolation from lower energies. This method also allows one to derive the luminosity-independent elastic and inelastic cross sections: σ(el)=(27.1±1.4) mb; σ(inel)=(74.7±1.7) mb.