Although the generation of disoriented chiral condensates (DCCs), where the
order parameter for chiral symmetry breaking is misaligned with respect to the
vacuum direction in isospin state, is quite natural in the theory of strong
interactions, they have so far eluded experiments in accelerators and cosmic
rays. If DCCs are formed in high-energy nuclear collisions, the relevant
outcome are very large event-by-event fluctuations in the neutral-to-charged
pion fraction. In this note we search for fingerprints of DCC formation in
observables of ultra-high energy cosmic ray showers. We present simulation
results for the depth of the maximum (Xmax​) and number of muons on the
ground, evaluating their sensitivity to the neutral-to-charged pion fraction
asymmetry produced in the primary interaction.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure