Anomalous time structure of extensive air shower particle flows in the knee region of primary cosmic ray spectrum
V. P. AntonovaIonosphere Institute, Kamenskoye plato, Almaty 480068, KazakhstanА. П. ЧубенкоP N Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS, Leninsky pr. 53, Moscow 117924, RussiaS. V. KryukovIonosphere Institute, Kamenskoye plato, Almaty 480068, KazakhstanN. M. NesterovaP N Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS, Leninsky pr. 53, Moscow 117924, RussiaA. L. ShepetovP N Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS, Leninsky pr. 53, Moscow 117924, RussiaV. V. PiscalL. I. VildanovaG. B. ZhdanovP N Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS, Leninsky pr. 53, Moscow 117924, Russia
2002en
ABI
Abstract
We observe the new phenomenon of anomalous prolonged time distributions of neutron intensity using the 18NM64-type neutron monitor operating together with the shower installation of the Tian-Shan mountain cosmic ray station. We observe anomalous events in the core region of extensive air showers (EAS) with the size Ne > 106. The threshold of their generation coincides with the 'knee' in the energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays (about 3 × 1015 eV). The prolonged neutron events are accompanied by the flows of EAS electrons and γ-quanta having time distributions similar to those of the neutrons. The discovered phenomenon may be a reason to make a principal change in the usual procedure of EAS exploration.
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