Identify misrepresented aspects of hadronic interactions and map them to air-shower observables

Identify which aspects of high-energy hadronic interactions are misrepresented in current phenomenological hadronic interaction models used for cosmic-ray air-shower simulations, and characterize the mapping between hadronic interaction properties and air-shower observables to account for the observed discrepancies between simulations and experimental data.

Background

Air-shower simulations using widely adopted hadronic interaction models do not consistently reproduce measurements from cosmic-ray observatories. The consensus is that incomplete or inaccurate modeling of high-energy hadronic interactions contributes significantly to these discrepancies. However, it remains uncertain which specific components of the hadronic interaction modeling are responsible and how changes in interaction properties propagate into air-shower observables. The modular design of #18 enables detailed causal tracing of particle histories, potentially helping to resolve this question.