Diffraction-Disassociation Model of Very-High-Energy Nucleon-Nucleon Interactions and the Diffusion of Cosmic Rays through the Atmosphere

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A simple model of very-high-energy nucleon-nucleon interactions is constructed on the assumption that at sufficiently high energies the dominant processes can be described in terms of the production of two centers—fireballs—which carry the same quantum numbers (except angular momentum) as the corresponding nucleons, and that the cross section for producing fireballs of a definite invariant mass will decrease with energy at the same rate as the elastic scattering cross section. The rate of decrease is assumed to be derived from the dominance of the exchange of a Pomeranchuk Regge trajectory. Fireball mass spectra are defined by the model without the introduction of arbitrary parameters. Meson production multiplicities and nucleon inelasticity factors, which are derived from the fireball mass distributions with minimal additional assumptions, are in accord with experimental observations of nucleon-nucleon interactions. This description of nucleon-nucleon interactions is then used to construct a model of the propagation of cosmic rays through the atmosphere. The nucleon attenuation lengths, the muon energy spectra, and the muon charge ratios deduced from the model are in qualitative agreement with observations.