J. Bellandi et al., DETERMINATION OF THE ENERGY-DEPENDENCE OF THE PROTON-AIR AND PROTON-PROTON INELASTICITIES, Nuovo cimento della Società Italiana di Fisica. A. Nuclei, particles and fields, 111(2), 1998, pp. 149-158
We combine cosmic-ray information on the attenuation of the hadronic f
lux in the atmosphere and accelerator results on proton-proton total c
ross-sections to determine first the average proton-air inelasticity,
Kp-air, and then, using Glauber model, the average proton-proton inela
sticity, K-pp. At the LHC, Akeno, EASTOP, and Fly's Eye energies, root
s approximate to (10-100) TeV, Kp-air shows a tendency to increase wi
th energy, while K-pp remains practically constant. This suggests that
minijets and large E-T production do not affect K-pp, but that the in
creasing role of multiple interactions in p-air collisions makes Kp-ai
r increase.