Speaker
Description
Upon the interaction of primary cosmic rays with atmospheric nuclei, an Extensive Air Shower (EAS) is produced, generating secondary particles that offer an indirect method to study cosmic rays. The muonic component of these showers is crucial for understanding the mass composition of the primary cosmic rays. However, at higher energies, significant discrepancies persist between simulated and experimental data, underscoring the need to refine current hadronic interaction models. The GRAPES-3 Muon Telescope (G3MT) in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, a 560 m$^2$ ground-based detector, utilizes nearly 4000 gaseous proportional counters to sample muons from air showers. A similar, larger telescope with a 70% increased field of view is under construction. In this contribution, we will present a comparative analysis of high-energy hadronic interaction models (EPOS-LHC, QGSJET II-04, and SIBYLL 2.3d) using the CORSIKA simulation package to examine muon and electron production across various parameters, focusing on the lateral distributions of muons and electrons in cosmic ray showers. We investigate monoenergetic vertical showers within the TeV - PeV energy range by using GRAPES-3 parameters, analyzing primaries such as protons, helium, nitrogen, and iron. Key parameters like particle densities, shower size, and shower age derived from lateral distributions are evaluated to deepen our understanding of EAS.
