Single and multiple muon events in the LVD detector

Expected rates of deep-underground muons in the LVD detector, at a vertical depth of 3600 hg/cm2 s.r. (standard rock) at the Gran Sasso, were obtained through Monte Carlo simulation. Two different generators were developed to reproduce single and multiple muon distributions at our detector level. The main purpose was to evaluate the potentiality of the apparatus in studying chemical composition and energy spectra of primary cosmic rays in the range 1014–1016 eV through the detection of muon bundles of high multiplicity. Sensitivity of the detector was checked by comparing event-rate predictions for three different models of the primary composition: the Maryland spectrum, the “low energy composition” model, and the NUSEX parametrization (with spectral index of iron γFe = 2.60 and 2.70). We predict a single muon rate in the apparatus of about 3.26×106 events/year. Preliminary results for multiple muon-event detection show that we can separate with a good sensitivity different primary compositions in the multiplicity region around n = 10.