Speaker
Description
Muon production depth (MPD) and its maximum, $X_{\text{max}}^{\mu}$, provide information on the mass composition of primary cosmic rays. Using timing information from LHAASO-KM2A muon detectors, we reconstruct MPD distributions for proton- and iron-induced air showers simulated with CORSIKA using three high-energy hadronic interaction models: EPOS-LHC-R, QGSJET-III-01, and SIBYLL 2.3e. The simulations cover energies of 1--63 PeV and zenith angles of $10^\circ$--$30^\circ$. The reconstructed $X_{\text{max}}^{\mu}$ shows typical biases within approximately $10\ \mathrm{g/cm^2}$ and resolutions better than $20\ \mathrm{g/cm^2}$ above 10 PeV. Geant4 detector-response simulations show proton--iron discrimination powers increasing from approximately 0.4 to 1.7 with energy. Potential energy-dependent biases associated with the 608 ns MD dead time and the earliest-hit selection are also discussed. These results demonstrate the potential of $X_{\text{max}}^{\mu}$ for cosmic-ray mass-composition studies with LHAASO-KM2A.