γ-hadron families sensitivity to disoriented chiral condensates

Presented in this study is a possible coherent emission of pions from a large domain of disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) in the leading particle region, through their influence on the development of the γ-hadron families, initiated by cosmic ray particles in the atmosphere. The production rate of DCC's is obtained by using a phenomenological framework in the quenching approximation and is included in a Monte Carlo code. In this context, we have found, under the assumption of a ''normal'' proton dominant composition in the primary flux, that the anomalous hadron-rich families, observed in the experimental data, can be reproduced. However, the production rate of DCC's obtained here is not enough to describe the global characteristics, such as the family flux, observed at mountain altitudes. The implications of these results are here discussed. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society