Measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive air showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION.; S. J. SCIUTTO

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2021

0031-9007

We present the first measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive airshowers produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We find that the measured fluctuations arein good agreement with predictions from air shower simulations. This observation provides newinsights into the origin of the previously reported deficit of muons in air shower simulations andconstrains models of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies. Our measurement is compatiblewith the muon deficit originating from small deviations in the predictions from hadronic interactionmodels of particle production that accumulate as the showers develop.