The Muon Puzzle in cosmic-ray induced air showers and its connection to the LHC

High-energy cosmic rays are observed indirectly by detecting extensive particle showers initiated in Earth’s atmosphere. These so-called air showers are hadronic cascades which produce a muon component via hadron decay. The muon number is a key observable to infer the mass composition of cosmic rays. The interpretation of air shower observations relies on accurate interaction models, which is a challenge and an opportunity to test quantum chromodynamics (QCD) under extreme conditions. Air shower simulations with state-of-the-art QCD models show a significant muon deficit with respect to measurements; this is called the Muon Puzzle. The origin of this discrepancy has been traced to the composition of secondary particles in hadronic interactions. The muon discrepancy starts at the TeV scale in the centre-of-mass frame, which suggests that the origin should be observable at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). An effect that can potentially explain the puzzle has been observed at the LHC, but needs to be confirmed with forward facing experiments, and with future data on oxygen beams.