Calculations of the time structure of incidence of extensive air showers

Abstract

A series of model calculations is described and the results for average proton-initiated extensive air showers of about 10¹⁸ eV are compared with those of other model calculations and with a wide range of experimental data. Particular care has been taken to allow the model calculations to be matched with the experimental data and the conclusion of those authors that protons are present in the primary cosmic ray beam at about 10¹⁸ eV is supported. Further work is suggested to test whether the fluctuations found experimentally can be explained on other hypotheses.