Prompt and conventional high-energy muon spectra from a full Monte Carlo simulation via CORSIKA7
Journal article, 2025
Extensive air showers produce high-energy muons that can be utilized to probe hadronic interaction models in cosmic ray interactions. Most muons originate from pion and kaon decays, called conventional muons, while a smaller fraction, referred to as prompt muons, arises from the decay of heavier, short-lived hadrons. The EHISTORY option of the air shower simulation tool CORSIKA7 is used in this work to investigate the prompt and conventional muon flux in the energy range of 100TeV–100PeV, utilizing the newly developed open-source python software PANAMA. Identifying the muon parent particles allows for scaling the contribution of prompt particles, which can be leveraged by future experimental analyses to measure the normalization of the prompt muon flux. Obtained prompt muon spectra from CORSIKA7 are compared to MCEq results. The relevance to large-volume neutrino detectors, such as IceCube and KM3NeT, and the connection to hadronic interaction models is discussed.
Author
L. Neste
Technische Universität Dortmund
Oskar Klein Centre
P. Gutjahr
Technische Universität Dortmund
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
M. Hünnefeld
Technische Universität Dortmund
University of Wisconsin Madison
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
J. M. Alameddine
Technische Universität Dortmund
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
W. Rhode
Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center)
Technische Universität Dortmund
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Julia Tjus
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center)
Felix Riehn
Technische Universität Dortmund
Kevin Kröninger
Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center)
Technische Universität Dortmund
Johannes Albrecht
Technische Universität Dortmund
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center)
European Physical Journal C
1434-6044 (ISSN) 1434-6052 (eISSN)
Vol. 85 7 759Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Subatomic Physics
DOI
10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14444-y