Properties of 109-1010GeV extensive air showers at core distances between 100 and 3000 m

Abstract

The authors examine some properties of 10⁹-10¹⁰ GeV extensive air showers (EAS), such as the electron and the muon lateral distribution, the ratio of muon electron density, the shower front structure and the transition effects in a scintillator, with the new Akeno 20 km² giant air showers (GAS) array at core distances between 100 and 3000 m. At large core distances the lateral distributions of both electrons and muons become steeper than extrapolations of the formulae so far reported. The thickness of shower fronts agrees well with Linsley's formula up to 3 km, to the extent that the authors pulses delayed by more than R/c (R is the core distance).