On the mystery of the multi-muon flux at the TeV cosmic-ray energy range

Abstract

Current Monte Carlo simulations do not provide a good description of the muon component of extensive air showers. Many air shower experiments report discrepancies between their data and Monte Carlo predictions, ranging from the TeV scale up to the highest energies. In these proceedings, we address the seasonal variation of the multi-muon events observed by the NOvA Near Detector (ND). For our studies, we use the general-purpose Monte Carlo code FLUKA to treat the transport and interaction of the air-shower particles in the atmosphere and other media. Our design considers a multilayered atmosphere and a layered underground approximated to match the NOvA ND location and detector geometry. Our atmospheric model uses air densities for winter and summer calculated from the temperature and geopotential information for the pressure levels given by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) datasets in situ. Understanding the multi-muon flux at the cosmic ray high-energy range may lead to a better description of the muon production mechanisms in ultra-high-energy extensive air showers. In addition, it can help to improve future Monte Carlo codes or hint at new physics processes or interactions.