Search of the “second knee” by means of muon bundles in inclined EAS

摘要

Results of the study of primary cosmic ray flux characteristics in the energy range 1016 – 1018 eV by meansof muon component of inclined EAS are presented. The method is based on the analysis of local muon density spectra(LMDS) obtained at ground level in a wide range of zenith angles from experimental data on muon bundles detectedwith coordinate-tracking detector DECOR. A special attention is paid to the energy region around 1017 eVmuon density spectra and spectra calculated assuming different models of primary CR flux and hadronic interactionsis given. Three different approaches to the data analysis revealed the change of the slope of LMDS in the primaryenergy range around 1017 eV.