Current Status and Future Prospects of the LHCf Experiment
The Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment studies the production of neutral particles in the very forward region of high-energy hadronic collisions at the LHC. These measurements provide essential calibration data for hadronic interaction models used in simulations of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The LHCf experiment measures forward-produced neutral particles, such as neutrons, photons, π0, and η mesons, which play a key role in the development of extensive air showers. Proton–proton collisions at the LHC reach center-of-mass energies up to 13.6 TeV, corresponding in the fixed-target frame to cosmic-ray interactions at energies close to 1017 eV in the Earth’s atmosphere. LHCf has collected data in proton–proton collisions at several energies, as well as in proton–lead collisions, enabling detailed comparisons between experimental results and predictions of hadronic interaction models. This contribution reviews the most significant LHCf results, with emphasis on Run II proton–proton data at s=13TeV, including measurements of forward neutron, photon, and η meson production. Finally, future prospects are discussed, focusing on ongoing analyses of Run III proton–proton data at s=13.6TeV and on the final LHCf operation in proton-oxygen collisions at sNN=9.6TeV, which best reproduces cosmic-ray interactions with nuclei of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Authors
- S. Ricciarini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6176-3368)
- L. Bonechi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6097-1181)
- M. Scaringella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-2832)
- Andrea Paccagnella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7525-8135)
- S. Detti
- K. Kasahara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5611-3301)
- M. Bongi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6050-1937)
- P. Papini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4718-2895)
- N. Sakurai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1002-217X)
- A. Tiberio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8016-8844)
- P. Betti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7097-165X)
- E. Geraci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5119-5889)
- O. Adriani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3592-0654)
- Giuseppe Piparo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9490-6045)
- Maurice Haguenauer
- Bill Turner
- Haruka Kobayashi
- C. E. Leitgeb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0335-503X)
- Elena Gensini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0233-5627)
- Raffaello D’Alessandro
- Yoshitaka Itow
- Vlera Hajdini
- Alessia Tricomi
- Cigdem Issever
- Eugenio Berti
- Shoji Torii
- Takashi Sako
- Kenji Yoshida
- Yasushi Muraki
- Yutaka Matsubara
- Yuki Shimizu
- Tadashi Tamura
- Hiroaki Menjo
Institutions
- École Polytechnique (FR)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Waseda University (JP)
- Shibaura Institute of Technology (JP)
- Chubu University (JP)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- University of Catania (IT)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Kanagawa University (JP)
- Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (IT)
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania (IT)
- Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e di Struttura della Materia (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze (IT)
- Laboratoire d'Informatique de l'École Polytechnique (FR)
- University of Florence (IT)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- Tokushima College of Technology (JP)
- Tokushima University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Particles
- Published
- 2026-04-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/particles9020034
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- CERN
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo