Comparison of high energy interaction models used for atmospheric shower simulations above 1 TeV

Abstract

We present here a comparison of interaction models commonly used for simulating cosmic ray shower development in the atmosphere at energies greater than 1 TeV. The implementations of these models in CORSIKA and the FLUKA transport and interaction code are relevant for extensive air shower experiments, neutrino telescopes, and gamma-ray surfacebased detectors. We compare the pion, kaon, charmed meson and baryon energy fractions and the multiplicities at the first interaction stage of monoenergetic protons on nitrogen nuclei in the range 1 TeV-100 PeV. We also show comparisons in terms of Z-moments, a spectrumweighted multiplicity often used in the cosmic ray community. The transverse and longitudinal momentum distributions of the secondary muons produced in proton-nitrogen collisions are also shown. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.