The muon component of large extensive air showers

Abstract

Further measurements are reported on the momenta and densities of muons in EAS using the Haverah Park solid iron magnet spectrograph. The observational data are based on measurements of 5 000 muons in the momentum range 1–100 GeV/c at distances 10–700 m from the cores of showers of size 10⁵–10⁸ particles. The results are compared with the predictions of recent models for the nuclear cascade. A possible explanation for the excess of high-momentum particles observed is the occurrence of secondaries with large transverse momenta.