Mass composition of cosmic rays determined by muon fraction with ${\epsilon }_{thr.}\ge$ 1 GeV in air showers with energy greater than 5 EeV

Abstract

The ratio of the number of muons with a threshold of 1 GeV and charged particles at a distance of 600 m from the axis is analyzed. Air showers with energies above 5 EeV and zenith angles with less than 60 degrees are considered. Comparison of experimental data with calculations by the QGSJETII-04 model for various primary nuclei, including a gamma ray, showed that the mass composition of cosmic rays up to energies of $\sim$ 10 EeV mainly consists of protons and helium nuclei, with a small number of heavy nuclei. Data include air showers with a very low muon content, which are assumed to be produced by primary gamma rays.

13 pages, 10 figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Mass Composition of UHECRs from $X_{\max }$ Distributions Recorded by the Pierre Auger and Telescope Array Observatories