Composition of Cosmic Rays with Energy More than 0.1 EeV by Long-Term Optical Observations of Cherenkov Emission at Yakutsk EAS Array

Аннотация

The paper presents results on longitudinal development of air showers with ultra-high energies and mass composition of cosmic rays 〈ln A〉. The data is obtained from observations of Cherenkov emission at the Yakutsk array in 1974–2014. Cascade curves of individual showers reconstructed by lateral distribution of Cherenkov light and depth of maximum X_max are analyzed in the energy region 10¹⁶–6 × 10¹⁹ eV. Composition of cosmic rays is determined by interpolation of hadronic interaction QGSJETII-04 model.