Anomalies in cosmic rays: New particles versus charm?

Abstract

For a long time two anomalies are observed in cosmic rays at energies E approx. = 100 TeV: (1) the generation of long-flying cascades in the hadron calorimeter (the so-called Tien-Shan effect) and; (2) the enhancement of direct muon yield as compared with the accelerator energy region. The aim is to discuss the possibility that both anomalies have common origins arising from production and decays of the same particles. the main conclusions are the following: (1) direct muons cannot be generated by any new particles with mass exceeding 10+20 GeV; and (2) if both effects are originated from the charmed hadrons, then the needed charm hadroproduction cross section is unexpectedly large as compared with the quark-gluon model predictions