Measurement of the Fluctuations in the Number of Muons in Extensive Air Showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (P. HANSEN PERTENECE A LA COLABORACION-ORDEN ALFABETICO)

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2021

0031-9007

We present the first measurement of the fluctuations in the number of muons in extensive air showersproduced by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We find that the measured fluctuations are in good agreementwith predictions from air shower simulations. This observation provides new insights into the origin of thepreviously reported deficit of muons in air shower simulations and constrains models of hadronic