Multimuons in cosmic-ray events as seen in ALICE at the LHC

Abstract ALICE is a large experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Located 52 meters underground, its detectors are suitable to measure muons produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere. In this paper, the studies of the cosmic muons registered by ALICE during Run 2 (2015–2018) are described. The analysis is limited to multimuon events defined as events with more than four detected muons ( N μ > 4) and in the zenith angle range 0° < θ < 50°. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations using three of the main hadronic interaction models describing the air shower development in the atmosphere: QGSJET-II-04, EPOS-LHC, and SIBYLL 2.3d. The interval of the primary cosmic-ray energy involved in the measured muon multiplicity distribution is about 4 × 10 15 < E prim < 6 × 10 16 eV. In this interval none of the three models is able to describe precisely the trend of the composition of cosmic rays as the energy increases. However, QGSJET-II-04 is found to be the only model capable of reproducing reasonably well the muon multiplicity distribution, assuming a heavy composition of the primary cosmic rays over the whole energy range, while SIBYLL 2.3d and EPOS-LHC underpredict the number of muons in a large interval of multiplicity by more than 20% and 30%, respectively. The rate of high muon multiplicity events ( N μ > 100) obtained with QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d is compatible with the data, while EPOS-LHC produces a significantly lower rate (55% of the measured rate). For both QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d, the rate is close to the data when the composition is assumed to be dominated by heavy elements, an outcome compatible with the average energy E prim ∼ 10 17 eV of these events. This result places significant constraints on more exotic production mechanisms.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Published
2025-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2025/04/009
Citations
3
Primary Topic
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.61

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article

Multimuons in cosmic-ray events as seen in ALICE at the LHC

F. Ronchetti, L. Lautner, I. Chakaberia, K. Barth et al.
3 citations
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
5.61
article

Multimuons in cosmic-ray events as seen in ALICE at the LHC

F. Ronchetti, L. Lautner, I. Chakaberia, K. Barth, Adrian Horzyk, N. Rubini, S. Y. Noh, M. Germain, E. López Torres, C. Lippmann, B. Jacak, P. Gasik, M. Guilbaud, A. Neagu, Md Samsul Islam, A. Yuncu, K. Schweda, F. Manso, A. Manea, J. G. Contreras, M. Mazzilli, N. Agrawal, C. Kim, M. N. Anaam, M. Gagliardi, Felix Willi Hoffmann, I.-K. Yoo, I. G. Bearden, B. Paul, Manuel Viqueira Rodriguez, G. Luparello, A. Dubla, W. Guo, T. Virgili, R. Turrisi, W. Wu, D. Hatzifotiadou, F. Cindolo, R. Rath, Artem Kotliarov, Y. Kwon, K. Røed, G. De Cataldo, D. Ruggiano, I. Selyuzhenkov, S. Thakur, Martin Andreas Volkl, Abhay Kumar Agarwal, V. Kučera, S. R. Klein, I. Fokin, Tonatiuh García Chàvez, A. Shangaraev, A. Grelli, T. Bodova, M. V. Hartung, D. Røhr, A. Augustinus, C. Andrei, Y. W. Baek, A. Margotti, S. Arcelli, A. Bhasin, M. Sitta, C. Markert, I. Altsybeev, T. Tkacik, T. Siemiarczuk, M. M. Czarnynoga, A. Andronic, Giulia Gioachin, M. Agnello, G. L. Usaı́, A. Nyanin, R. Divià, B. Ulukutlu, Bushra Ali, J. Castillo Castellanos, M. Planinić, A. Rakotozafindrabe, C. Terrevoli, J. Schukraft, Emma Rose Yeats, A. Tavira García, Gianni Shigeru Setoue Liveraro, V. Nikulin, R. Lietava, A. Morsch, M. B. Gay Ducati, A. Vodopyanov, K. Gwizdziel, V. Zaccolo, E. Grecka, R. Lavicka, E. García-Solis, Siyu Tang, F. Soramel, Mihaela Gabriela Besoiu, J. Wilkinson, P. Chochula, A. Kalweit, S. A. Bysiak, Jesús Ricardo Alvarado García, Pritam Chakraborty, Konstantin Mikhaylov, J. W. Myrcha, S. Ahmad, H. M. Alfanda, Z. Banoo, Mihai Carabaș, M. Arslandok, T. Fusayasu, W. Deng, S. Saha, S. Das, K. E. Iversen, C. Wang, F. Mazzaschi, D. Mallick, B. Sitár, I. Ravasenga, C. Ferrero, A. Sturniolo, Corentin Cot, M. Bombara, Guido Alexander Willems, A. Harton, Olaf Massen, F. Grosa, A. Hutson, A. Trifirò, L. Betev, T. Alt, Ernst Hellbär, D. Colella, A. Rai, F. Colamaria, S. Grigoryan, C. Sonnabend, Nicolas Schmidt, R. J. G. van Weelden, Justin Thomas Blair, E. 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Peitzmann, Mingyang Li, Sadhana Dash, L. Zhang
article en
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Abstract

Abstract ALICE is a large experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Located 52 meters underground, its detectors are suitable to measure muons produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere. In this paper, the studies of the cosmic muons registered by ALICE during Run 2 (2015–2018) are described. The analysis is limited to multimuon events defined as events with more than four detected muons ( N μ > 4) and in the zenith angle range 0° < θ < 50°. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations using three of the main hadronic interaction models describing the air shower development in the atmosphere: QGSJET-II-04, EPOS-LHC, and SIBYLL 2.3d. The interval of the primary cosmic-ray energy involved in the measured muon multiplicity distribution is about 4 × 10 15 < E prim < 6 × 10 16 eV. In this interval none of the three models is able to describe precisely the trend of the composition of cosmic rays as the energy increases. However, QGSJET-II-04 is found to be the only model capable of reproducing reasonably well the muon multiplicity distribution, assuming a heavy composition of the primary cosmic rays over the whole energy range, while SIBYLL 2.3d and EPOS-LHC underpredict the number of muons in a large interval of multiplicity by more than 20% and 30%, respectively. The rate of high muon multiplicity events ( N μ > 100) obtained with QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d is compatible with the data, while EPOS-LHC produces a significantly lower rate (55% of the measured rate). For both QGSJET-II-04 and SIBYLL 2.3d, the rate is close to the data when the composition is assumed to be dominated by heavy elements, an outcome compatible with the average energy E prim ∼ 10 17 eV of these events. This result places significant constraints on more exotic production mechanisms.

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle PhysicsVol. 2025(04)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Villum Fonden, CERN, Türkiye Enerji, Nükleer ve Maden Araştırma Kurumu, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, European Commission, National Research Foundation, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India, University Grants Commission, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Austrian Science Fund, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu Slovenskej republiky, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, National Research Foundation of Korea, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Suranaree University of Technology, Vetenskapsrådet, Hrvatska Zaklada za Znanost, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Norges Forskningsråd, Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd, State Committee of Science, Fondo de Cooperación Internacional en Ciencia y Tecnología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnológicas y Desarrollo Nuclear, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Nuclear Physics, FP7 International Cooperation
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
5.61
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