Abstract
A method to determine the primary cosmic ray mass composition is presented. Data processing is based on the theoretical model representing the integral muon multiplicity spectrum as the superposition of the spectra corresponding to different kinds of primary nuclei. The method consists of two stages. In the first stage, the permissible intervals of primary nuclei fractions fi are determined on the basis of the EAS spectrum versus the total number of muons (Eμ ⩾ 235 GeV). In the second stage, the permissible intervals of fi are narrowed by the fitting procedure. We use the experimental data on high multiplicity muon events (nμ ⩾ 114) collected at the Baksan underground scintillation telescope. Within the framework of three components (protons, helium and heavy nuclei), the mass composition in the region 1015–1016 eV has been defined: fp = 0.235 ± 0.02, fHe = 0.290 ± 0.02, fH = 0.475 ± 0.03. The average logarithmic mass is lnA ≃ 1.93 and it is in good agreement with results before the knee energy obtained by JACEE, RUNJOB, ATIC. At energies above the knee (1015–1016 eV) our analysis supports KASCADE results and contradicts to CASA-BLANCA and DICE data.
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