IAP - HIgh-Energy Universe Group Seminar / WS2025/26 (Lilly Pyras - Hadronic Interaction Models at IceCube) (8/18)

Thursday Dec 4, 2025, 11:00 AM → 12:30 PM Europe/Berlin

206 (KIT CN Bld 425)

WS 2025/26 

Lilly Pyras

University of Utah, Salt Lake City

"Testing Hadronic Interaction Models with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory"

Abstract:  High-energy cosmic rays are observed indirectly by detecting the extensive air showers they initiate in the Earth's atmosphere. Accurate modelling of air shower development is essential for interpreting experimental data. However, simulations based on current hadronic interaction models show significant discrepancies with measurements of the muon content in air showers. This discrepancy is commonly referred to as the 'Muon Puzzle' and indicates severe shortcomings in our understanding of particle physics. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, comprising the surface array IceTop and the deep in-ice detector, enables the simultaneous measurement of muons at GeV energies and above a few hundred GeV. This talk will first present a phenomenological study of low- and high-energy muons and the apparent muon production depth in simulated air showers. I will then introduce two new reconstruction methods that make such measurements possible: one that determines the number of muons by independently fitting the electromagnetic and muonic components of the shower, and another that uses a boosted decision tree to reconstruct the apparent muon production depth. These hybrid measurements allow us to directly test and constrain multi-particle production in hadronic interaction models.

Chair: Andreas Haungs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hadronic_models_icecube.pdf

Lilly.jpg