surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory

摘要

Muons in extensive air showers are messengers of the hadronic-shower core whose simulation is subject to largetheoretical uncertainties due to our limited knowledge of multi-particle production in hadronic interactions. Different methodsof deriving the fraction of the signal observed in the surface detectors coming from either the muonic or electromagneticshower components are used to compare the data from the Pierre Auger Observatory with predictions of Monte Carlo simulations.The observations are quantified relative to the predictions obtained with QGSJET II and FLUKA as interactionmodels. The predicted number of muons at 1000 m from the shower axis is lower than that found in data, and the energythat would have to be assigned to the surface detector signal, based on shower simulations, is systematically higher than thatderived from fluorescence observations.