NUCLEAR INTERACTIONS AND COSMIC RADIATION AT ENERGIES AROUND 106-GEV

The results of a series of Monte Carlo simulations of extensive air showers are compared with experimental data from the Sydney 64-scintillator array and other experiments. The work has had two main objectives: (a) the study of the composition of cosmic radiation around 106 GeV; (b) the study of nuclear interactions at very high energies. In the first field, evidence is produced to show that the composition of cosmic radiation is much the same at 1015 eV total energy as at 5 × 1010 eV total energy. Above about 3 × 1015 eV the composition changes, the beam becoming progressively richer in heavier nuclei up to energies of about 1017 eV. In the second field, the main result reported is that at energies above 1014 eV there is evidence that much higher transverse momenta occur than at machine energies. If true, this implies that a force is acting which is much stronger than the normal strong interaction. © 1969 The American Physical Society.