Forward Physics with the LHCf Experiment

Abstract

In 2016 the LHCf experiment has fulfilled its original goal of measuring the spectra of the neutral particles produced in the very forward direction at LHC at the highest energy ever available. The main purpose of these measurements is indeed to provide the Cosmic Ray and High Energy Physics communities with a missing unique set of information for the improvement of the hadronic interaction models used to simulate air showers development produced in the interaction of primary High Energy Cosmic Rays (HECR) with the Earth atmosphere. The last data sets collected by the LHCf experiment have been obtained during p+p collisions, at an energy of 13 TeV in the CM frame, and p+Pb collision, at an energy of 5.2 TeV and 8.1 TeV in the nucleon-nucleon CM frame. A review of the main results of LHCf and of the recent and on-going activities will be presented.