MASS COMPOSITION OF PRIMARY COSMIC RAYS AND MUON SIZE SPECTRUM OF EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS

摘要

We consider the results of determination of the mass composition of primary cosmic rays in the region where, according to the data on extensive air showers (EAS), there is a knee in the energy spectrum. In this connection we discuss the experimental data on the EAS muon size spectrum. We point out that the knee in the muon size spectrum measured by the KASCADE air shower array hardly agree with other similar data. This circumstance, together with contradictory results of the analysis of the mass composition with and without taking into account the data of the KASCADE hadron calorimeter, does not allow one to believe that the conclusions of the KASCADE collaboration are decisively proved.