Cosmic Ray Measurements with IceCube and IceTop

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov detector in the deep ice at the geographic South Pole. The dominant event yield in the deep ice detector consists of penetrating atmospheric muons with energies above approximately 300 GeV, produced in cosmic ray air showers. In addition, the surface array, IceTop, measures the electromagnetic component and GeV muons of air showers. Hence, IceCube and IceTop yield unique opportunities to study cosmic rays with unprecedented statistics in great detail. We will present recent results of comic ray measurements from IceCube and IceTop. In this overview, we will highlight measurements of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays from 250 TeV up to the EeV range and their mass composition above 3 PeV. We will also report recent results from measurements of the muon content in air showers and discuss their consistency with predictions from current hadronic interaction models.Comment: Submission to SciPost Phys. Proc. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1909.0442

Astroparticle Physics with the Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC

High-energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will produce an enormous flux of particles along the beam collision axis that is not accessible by existing LHC experiments. Multi-particle production in the far-forward region is of particular interest for astroparticle physics. High-energy cosmic rays produce large particle cascades in the atmosphere, extensive air showers (EAS), which are driven by hadron-ion collisions under low momentum transfer in the non-perturbative regime of QCD. Thus, the understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions in the forward region is crucial for the interpretation of EAS data and for the estimation of backgrounds for searches of astrophysical neutrinos. The Forward Physics Facility (FPF) is a proposal to build a new underground cavern at the HL-LHC which will host a variety of far-forward experiments to detect particles outside the acceptance of the existing LHC experiments. We will present the current status of plans for the FPF and highlight the synergies with astroparticle physics. In particular, we will discuss how measurements at the FPF will improve the modeling of high-energy hadronic interactions in the atmosphere and thereby reduce the associated uncertainties of measurements in the context of multi-messenger astrophysics.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023

Probing Hadronic Interactions with Cosmic Rays

High-energy cosmic rays interact in the Earth's atmosphere and produce extensive air showers (EASs) which can be measured with large detector arrays at the ground. The interpretation of these measurements relies on models of the EAS development which represents a challenge as well as an opportunity to test quantum chromodynamics (QCD) under extreme conditions. The EAS development is driven by hadron-ion collisions under low momentum transfer in the non-perturbative regime of QCD. Under these conditions, hadron production cannot be described using first principles and these interactions cannot be probed with existing collider experiments. Thus, accurate measurements of the EAS development provide a unique probe of multi-particle production in hadronic interactions.Comment: Presented at the Roma International Conference on AstroParticle Physics (RICAP 2022

A Two-Component Lateral Distribution Function for the Reconstruction of Air-Shower Events in IceTop

The surface component of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, IceTop, consists of an array of ice-Cherenkov tanks measuring the electromagnetic signal as well as low-energy ($\sim\rm{GeV}$) muons from cosmic-ray air showers. In addition, accompanying high-energy (above a few $100\,\rm{GeV}$) muons can be observed in coincidence in the deep in-ice detector. A combined measurement of the low- and high-energy muon content is of particular interest for tests of hadronic interaction models as well as for cosmic-ray mass discrimination. However, since IceTop does not feature dedicated muon detectors, an estimation of the low-energy muon component of individual air showers is challenging. In this work, a two-component lateral distribution function (LDF), using separate descriptions for the electromagnetic and muon lateral distributions of the detector signals, is introduced as a new approach for the estimation of low-energy muons in air showers on an event-by-event basis. The principle of the air-shower reconstruction using the two-component LDF, as well as its reconstruction performance with respect to primary energy and number of low-energy muons will be discussed.Comment: Presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023). See arXiv:2307.13047 for all IceCube contribution

Probing Hadronic Interactions with Cosmic Rays

High-energy cosmic rays interact in the Earth’s atmosphere and produce extensive air showers (EASs) which can be measured with large detector arrays at the ground. The interpretation of these measurements relies on models of the EAS development which represents a challenge as well as an opportunity to test quantum chromodynamics (QCD) under extreme conditions. The EAS development is driven by hadron-ion collisions under low momentum transfer in the non-perturbative regime of QCD. Under these conditions, hadron production cannot be described using first principles and these interactions cannot be probed with existing collider experiments. Thus, accurate measurements of the EAS development provide a unique probe of multi-particle production in hadronic interactions