A Study of High Energy Hadronic Interaction Models at TeV-PeV Energies Using Cosmic Ray Muons at the GRAPES-3 Experiment
摘要
High-energy cosmic rays striking Earth’s atmosphere trigger an Extensive Air Shower, a cascade of secondary particles. The GRAPES-3 experiment is a ground-based cosmic ray observatory, comprising approximately 400 plastic scintillators to detect the electromagnetic component and a large-area muon telescope to monitor the muonic component of Extensive Air Showers. Muon properties, including multiplicity and Kinetic Energy (K.E.), provide critical insights into the primary cosmic ray composition. However, current hadronic interaction models such as QGSJET II-04, EPOS LHC, and SIBYLL 2.3d vary significantly in their predictions of muon characteristics. In these proceedings, we present a comparative analysis of these high-energy hadronic interaction models through simulations of cosmic ray muons in TeV–PeV monoenergetic showers, conducted using CORSIKA.