Testing Hadronic Interaction Models with Cosmic Ray Measurements at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Stef Verpoest, Dennis Soldin, Sam De Ridder, Rasha Abbasi, M. Ackermann, Jenni Adams, Juanan Aguilar, M. Ahlers, Maryon Ahrens, Cyril Martin Alispach, A. A. Alves, Najia Moureen Binte Amin, Rui An, K. Andeen, Tyler Anderson, G. Anton, C. Argüelles, Yosuke Ashida, Spencer Axani, X. Bai, Aswathi Balagopal, Anastasia Maria Barbano, S. W. Barwick, Benjamin Bastian, Vedant Basu, S. Baur, Ryan Bay, J. J. Beatty, K.-H. Becker, J. Becker Tjus, Chiara Bellenghi, S. BenZvi, D. Berley, E. Bernardini, D. Besson, G. Binder, D. Bindig, E. Blaufuss, Summer Blot, Matthias Boddenberg, Federico Bontempo, Jürgen Borowka, S. Böser, O. Botner, Jakob Boettcher, Etienne Bourbeau, Federica Bradascio, J. Braun, S. Bron, Jannes Brostean-Kaiser, Sally-Ann Browne, A. Burgman, Ryan T. Burley, Raffaela Busse, Michael Campana, Erin Carnie-Bronca, Chujie Chen, D. Chirkin, K. Choi, Bryanlee Clark, Kenneth Clark, Lew Classen, Alan Coleman, Gabriel Collin, J. M. Conrad, Paul Coppin, Pablo Correa, D. F. Cowen, R. Cross, Christian Dappen, Pranav Dave, C. De Clercq, James DeLaunay, H.-P. Dembinski, Kunal Deoskar, Abhishek Desai, P. Desiati, K. D. de Vries, G. de Wasseige, Meike De With, T. DeYoung, Sukeerthi Dharani, Alejandro Díaz, J. C. Díaz–Vélez, Markus Dittmer, Hrvoje Dujmović, M. Dunkman, M. A. DuVernois, Emily Dvorak, Thomas Ehrhardt, P. Eller, Ralph Engel, Hannah Erpenbeck, J. C. Evans, P. A. Evenson, Kwok Lung Fan, A. R. Fazely, Sebastian Fiedlschuster, Aaron Fienberg, Kirill Filimonov
Abstract
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory provides the opportunity to perform unique measurements of cosmic-ray air showers with its combination of a surface array and a deep detector. Electromagnetic particles and low-energy muons (∼GeV) are detected by IceTop, while a bundle of high-energy muons (>~400 GeV) can be measured in coincidence in IceCube. Predictions of air-shower observables based on simulations show a strong dependence on the choice of the high-energy hadronic interaction model. By reconstructing different composition-dependent observables, one can provide strong tests of hadronic interaction models, as these measurements should be consistent with one another. In this work, we present an analysis of air-shower data between 2.5 and 80 PeV, comparing the composition interpretation of measurements of the surface muon density, the slope of the IceTop lateral distribution function, and the energy loss of the muon bundle, using the models Sibyll 2.1, QGSJet-II.04 and EPOS-LHC. We observe inconsistencies in all models under consideration, suggesting they do not give an adequate description of experimental data. The results furthermore imply a significant uncertainty in the determination of the cosmic-ray mass composition through indirect measurements.