On the measurement of the proton-air cross section using air shower data

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  • 2 March 2009
Abstract
The analysis of high-energy air shower data allows one to study the proton-air cross section at energies beyond the reach of fixed target and collider experiments. The mean depth of the first interaction point and its fluctuations are a measure of the proton-air particle production cross section. Since the first interaction point in air cannot be measured directly, various methods have been developed in the past to estimate the depth of the first interaction from air shower observables. In this work we perform a detailed Monte Carlo study of the potential and limitations of different methods to measure the proton-air cross section. We demonstrate and quantify the dependence of the derived cross section on the used hadronic interaction model needed for simulating air showers. Based on these results, an improved analysis method is proposed that significantly reduces the model dependence by accounting for the actually derived cross section already in the simulation of reference showers.

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