Testing of the DPMJET and VENUS hadronic interaction models with help of the atmospheric muons

The more accurate original calculations of the atmospheric vertical muon energy spectra at energies 10² - 10⁵ GeV have been carried out in terms of DPMJET and VENUS models. The Gaisser-Honda approximations of the measured energy spectra of primary protons, helium and nitrogen nuclei have been used. The package CORSIKA has been used to simulate cascades in the standard atmosphere induced by different primary particles with various fixed energies E. Statistics of simulated cascades for secondary particles with energies (0.01-1)·E was increased up to 10⁶. It has been shown that predictions of the DPMJET and VENUS models for these muon fluxes are below the data of the classical experiments L3 + Cosmic, MACRO and LVD by factors of ∼ 1.6-1.95 at energies above 10² GeV. It has been concluded that these tested models underestimate the production of the most energetic secondary particles, namely, π-mesons and K-mesons, in interactions of the primary protons and other primary nuclei with nuclei in the atmosphere by the same factors.