CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number	arXiv:1810.00642
Title	Recent results from the cosmic ray program of the NA61/SHINE experiment
Author(s)	Prado, Raul R. (DESY, Zeuthen ; KIT, Karlsruhe, IKP ; Sao Paulo U., Sao Carlos)
Collaboration	NA61/SHINE Collaboration
Publication	2019
Imprint	2018-10-01
Number of pages	8
Note	8 pages, 9 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2018), Nagoya, Japan
In:	EPJ Web Conf. 208 (2019) 05006
In:	20th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, Nagoya, Japan, 21 - 25 May 2018, pp.05006
DOI	10.1051/epjconf/201920805006
Subject category	hep-ex ; Particle Physics - Experiment
Accelerator/Facility, Experiment	CERN SPS ; SHINE NA61
Abstract	NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this paper we summarize the results from pion-carbon collisions recorded at beam momenta of 158 and 350 GeV/c. Hadron production measurements in this type of interactions is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the muon production in extensive air showers. In particular, production of (anti)baryons and $\rho^0$ are mechanisms responsible for increasing the number of muons which reaches the ground. The underestimation of the (anti)baryons or $\rho^0$ production rates in current hadronic interaction models could be one of the sources of the excess of muons observed by cosmic ray experiments. The results on the production spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, K$^{\pm}$, p, $\bar{\text{p}}$, $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, K$^{0}_\text{S}$, $\rho^0$, $\omega$ and K$^{0*}$ are presented, as well as their comparison to predictions of hadronic interaction models currently used in air shower simulations.
Copyright/License	preprint: (License: arXiv nonexclusive-distrib 1.0)

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