33RD INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE, RIO DE JANEIRO 2013 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE On estimation of p-air cross section from EAS studies

Abstract: The study of cosmic ray extensive air showers (EAS) offers a unique way to extract proton-air interaction cross-section at energies beyond the reach of accelerator experiments. Usually the p-air cross-section is estimated either by evaluating the absorption of the proton initiated EAS flux penetrating the atmosphere or from the distribution of shower maximum. In the present work we have critically examined the analysis method usually adopted in obtaining cross section through attenuation of EAS and pointed out some limitations of the standard technique. A new approach involving simultaneous measurement of absorption of EAS and attenuation of electron component of EAS is proposed