Objective The Pierre Auger Observatory detects extensive air showers that are initiated by protons or nuclei reaching Earth'satmosphere with energies exceeding 10**18 eV (ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR)). The center-of-mass energy of the initial interaction of the CRs in the atmosphere exceeds the energies reached at the LHC by more than an order of magnitude.One of the key results of Auger is the discovery that these interactions of UHECRs do not behave as expected. Compared to simulations the measured air showers contain many more muons. This discrepancy could be simply due to the uncertainty inherent in the extrapolation from the energy scale of the LHC, where we can measure interactions in detail, to UHECR energies. Or it could be new physics! This project proposes to distinguish the two scenarios by the detailed measurement of the shower-to-showerdistribution of the muon content as the shape of the distribution is driven by the quantum fluctuations in the first UHE interaction which are sensitive to new physics and the details of hadronic interactions. The measurement will for the first time use hybrid data from the surface and radio detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Keywords origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays muon puzzle in extensive air showers Programme(s) HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme Topic(s) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-01 - MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 Call for proposal HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - Coordinator UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA Net EU contribution € 165 312,96 Address Colexio de san xerome praza do obradoiro s/n 15782 Santiago de compostela Spain See on map Region Noroeste Galicia A Coruña Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Partners (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all BERGISCHE UNIVERSITAET WUPPERTAL Germany Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address Gauss-strasse 20 42119 Wuppertal See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf Wuppertal, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
