Comparing hadronic interaction models with air shower parameters at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory studies cosmic-ray extensive air showers (EASs) using a surface array of ice-Cherenkov detectors, known as IceTop, by detecting the electromagnetic component and low-energy (~GeV) muons of EASs. A new reconstruction method, utilizing different lateral distribution functions (LDFs) for the electromagnetic and muonic components of the detector signals, is applied to estimate the shower size and low-energy muon content of EASs on an event-by-event basis. However, due to systematic uncertainties in high-energy hadronic interaction models, the simulated predictions of these EAS parameters show a significant dependence on the high-energy interaction models. Consequently, a detailed study of these systematic uncertainties in the reconstructed parameters provides insights into model-dependent variations in cosmic-ray air shower studies. In this work, we compare the EAS parameters reconstructed using three hadronic interaction models: Sibyll 2.1, QGSJet-II.04, and EPOS-LHC, and the results will be presented at the conference.