The Relation Between Charged Particles and Muons With Threshold Energy 1 GeV in Extensive Air Showers Registered at the Yakutsk EAS Array

TL;DR

This paper analyzes muon components in extensive air showers at Yakutsk, comparing experimental data with models to estimate cosmic ray composition at ultra-high energies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of muon data with different hadron interaction models to infer cosmic ray mass composition.

Findings

Muon data shows discrepancies with some models.

Cosmic ray composition varies with energy.

Results suggest a mixed composition at ultra-high energies.

Abstract

Characteristics of the muon component in EAS are analyzed together with their fluctuations. The aim of this analysis -- a comparison of experimental data with computational results obtained within frameworks of various hadron interaction models for protons and iron nuclei and an estimation of cosmic ray mass composition in the ultra-high energy region.