In this talk I'll review theoretical models, which explain main high-energy cosmic ray measurements, including spectrum, mass composition, anisotropy, and transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays. Also I'll discuss models, which explain astrophysical neutrinos, recently discovered by IceCube experiment and diffuse gamma-ray background, measured by Fermi LAT.
High-energy cosmic rays, impinging onto the atmosphere of the Earth, initiate extensive air showers. KASCADE-Grande was recording such air showers over a wide energy range from about 10^5 GeV to almost 10^9 GeV. The properties of cosmic rays have been determined with unprecedented precision and the KASCADE-Grande results have boosted our understanding of the astrophysical origin of cosmic...
The LHCb experiment has the unique possibility to measure interaction
of a few TeV protons with different gas targets, such as He, Ne,
Ar, and Xe. Excellent particle identification in the 10-100 GeV/c
momentum range allows to measure exclusive particle production at an
energy of sqrt(sNN) ~ 100 GeV in the forward direction at 2<eta<5.
The reported measurements of antiproton production in...
Indications of a discrepancy between simulations and data on the number of muons in cosmic ray showers exist over a large span of energies. We focus on the excess of multi-muon bundles observed by the DELPHI detector at LEP and on the excess in the muon number in general reported by the Pierre Auger Observatory. Even though the primary CR energies relevant for these experiments differ by...
I'll review the status and recent developments of Monte Carlo models of high energy hadronic interactions, employed in the cosmic ray field. A special attention will be devoted to the impact of the LHC data on the model improvements. Additionally, the potential of the forthcoming LHC measurements to discriminate between the underlying model approaches will be analysed. Finally, the relation to...
The Pierre Auger Observatory is an hybrid detector for cosmic ray showers with
energy above 1 EeV. This has allowed us to measure the proton-proton cross-section at sqrt(s)=55 TeV and to test other features of the hadronic interaction models, which are extrapolated from the LHC energy and different phase spaces.
The electromagnetic shower component, carrying most of its energy, is precisely...
Ultra high energy cosmic ray composition provides important clues as to the nature and location of exotic, unknown sources capable of accelerating particles to the highest energies in the observable universe. To understand the chemical composition of UHECRs, we require large statistical samples of data and accurate hadronic models able to predict important properties such as cross section,...
ALICE, a general purpose experiment designed to investigate nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), has also been used to detect atmospheric muons produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere. The large size and excellent tracking capability of the ALICE Time Projection Chamber are exploited to detect and reconstruct these muons. A program of cosmic-ray...