An explanation of the muon puzzle of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and the role of the Forward Physics Facility for model improvement

ANCHORDOQUI, LUIS A.; CANAL, CARLOS GARCÍA; KLING, FELIX; SCIUTTO, SERGIO J.; SORIANO, JORGE F.

Journal of High Energy Astrophysics

ELSEVIER

Año: 2022 vol. 34 p. 19 - 32

2214-4048

We investigate the observed muon deficit in air shower simulations when compared to ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) data. Based upon the observed enhancement of strangeness production in high-energy hadronic collisions reported by the ALICE Collaboration, the concomitant π↔Kswap is considered as the keystone to resolve the muon anomaly through its corresponding impact on the shower development. We construct a toy model in terms of the π↔Kswapping probability Fs. We present a parametrization of Fsin terms of the pseudorapidity that can accommodate the UHECR data. Looking to the future, we explore potential strategies for model improvement using the massive amounts of data to be collected by LHC neutrino detectors, such as FASERνand experiments at the Forward Physics Facility. We calculate the corresponding sensitivity to Fsand show that these experiments will be able to probe the model phase space.