A comparison between two atmospheric simulation models on CORSIKA

Full text: The atmospheric muons are produced mainly by the decay of pions and kaons in the hadronic component of the extensive air shower (EAS) generated by the interaction of a cosmic ray primary with a nuclei in the upper atmosphere. These events can be simulated by using interaction and decay models combined with a Monte Carlo method. Such simulations can be done with the CORSIKA - Cosmic Ray Simulation for KASCADE - package. It is obviously important to improve the high and low energy hadronic interaction models and the model of the atmosphere which determine the evolution of the simulated EAS. This work will show the preliminary results of a comparison between two models of the atmosphere in CORSIKA. The first one is the standard CORSIKA's atmospheric model, with several flat layers, parallel to the ground and the density of the air decreasing with the height; the second one replaces them by skew planes, parallels to the primary particle axis. We will describe the differences between each atmospheric model, taking into account the chemical composition of the primary particle and how the zenithal and azimuthal angles will interfere with the final state of the simulation process. The experimental parameters used in the simulation match with the apparatus of the MINOS Far Detector, such as angular acceptance and energy threshold for muons. The results of this study can be useful for the MINOS data analysis, such as atmospheric neutrino physics, cosmic rays physics and NuMI neutrino physics. (author)