UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF PROTON–AIR CROSS-SECTIONS AT VERY HIGH ENERGIES AND THE IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the possible effective role of two relatively less-known models in analyzing comprehensively the very up-to-date data on proton–air inelastic cross-sections at high and ultra high energies. The standard versions of all the familiar simulation-based multiparticle production models, which nowadays normally claim front-ranking positions, address on the contrary, only a small part of the cross-section data for a very limited or sectional range of energy values. Against this background, the relevance and impact of the present study have finally been highlighted.