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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 4: Cosmic rays 1

T 4.6: Vortrag

Montag, 4. März 2024, 17:15–17:30, Geb. 20.30: 2.059

An analysis concept to measure atmospheric prompt muons with IceCube — •Pascal Gutjahr and Mirco Hünnefeld — TU Dortmund University, AG Rhode, Dortmund, Germany

When cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, extensive air showers are initiated. The secondary particles produced are divided into two components: long-lived, light mesons such as pions and kaons referred to as conventional particles and short-lived, heavy charmed and unflavored mesons referred to as prompt particles. Both components decay further into muons and neutrinos, which are detected with cherenkov and neutrino telescopes. In several air shower experiments, muons have been observed more frequently than expected based on simulation. To understand this discrepancy, also referred to as the muon puzzle, the ratio of pions and kaons may be studied. This ratio can be analyzed by measuring the atmospheric muon and neutrino flux, as muon production is dominated by pions and neutrino production is dominated by kaons. Additionally, hadron production in forward direction and at energies of PeV and above are not well constrained by particle accelerator experiments, leading to large uncertainties in hadronic interaction models. Analyses of the atmospheric muon and neutrino fluxes will provide crucial measurements in this phase space.

In this contribution, a first step towards these goals is presented by a concept to measure the atmospheric muon flux at high energies using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The main objective is to measure the normalization of the prompt component to constrain the uncertainties in the hadronic interaction models.

Keywords: Prompt muons; Conventional muons; Atmospheric muon flux; hadronic interaction models; IceCube