Energy reconstruction for magnetically charged particles in general-purpose observatories

Determine whether a general-purpose observatory such as the Pierre Auger Observatory can reliably reconstruct the energy of an incoming magnetically charged particle, particularly when magnetic monopoles may undergo quantum-chromodynamic interactions in addition to quantum-electrodynamic interactions.

Background

The paper extends its directional likelihood analysis by incorporating the simulated magnetic-monopole energy distributions. This extension assumes that the Pierre Auger Observatory can reconstruct the energies of incoming magnetic monopoles in a manner sufficiently comparable to the reconstruction of ordinary ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

That assumption is unresolved because the atmospheric interactions of magnetic monopoles are model-dependent. In particular, monopoles with nontrivial internal QCD structure could produce air showers different from those generated under the purely electromagnetic interaction model used in earlier searches. Establishing whether a general-purpose observatory can reliably measure their energies is therefore important for interpreting the joint energy-direction likelihood constraints.