Simulation of the cosmic ray MUON charge ratio at high energy from 3 to 10 TeV

Abstract

The cosmic ray muon charge ratio is the ratio of the number of positive to negative muons. It carries information about interaction of primary cosmic rays in the atmosphere andthe development of the Extensive Air Shower (EAS). The study of muon charge ratio athigh energy also provides constraints for the theoretical models for atmospheric neutrinosand muon fluxes. The cosmic ray muon charge ratio reported by MINOS (Main InjectorNeutrino Oscillation Search), a magnetized steel plane calorimeter, at high energies up to10 TeV gave an approximate value of 1.347 ± 0.004. There was a characteristic increasein muon charge ratio as energy increased. This increase is shown to be consistent with thehypothesis that a greater fraction of the observed high energy muons arise from kaon decaywithin the cosmic ray shower. Data on charge ratio in the energy range from 0.08TeV to3TeV obtained by CosmoALEPH experiments gave a constant value of 1.278 ± 0.011. Thepresent study focuses on simulation of cosmic ray muon charge ratio at high energies upto 10 TeV Large number of events of primary cosmic ray particles (protons) have beengenerated by the Monte Carlo code CORSIKA (COsmic Ray SImulation for KAscade).The interactions of energetic particles have been simulated with QGSJET (0 I) model. Inorder to check CORSIKA results, the predictions of the model have been compared withthe results obtained by parameterization. The charge ratio is found to increase with theincreasing energy. The results of the Monte Carlo simulations of the cosmic ray muoncharge ratio have been compared with the results obtained by MINOS experiments andother groups.