Muons in extensive air showers. I. The lateral distribution of muons

The muon content of EAS detected at Haverah Park has been measured using both shielded scintillators and neon flashtube tracking arrays. The primary energy range covered was from 1015 up to 1020 eV with a muon energy threshold of 300 MeV. The lateral distributions of muon density are fitted to the observed data in each decade of primary energy over appropriate core-distance ranges. In the range 1501200 m the observed densities fall below the predictions of this LDF. At lower primary energies (Ep<1016 eV) and for R<150 m a simple power-law LDF fits the observed data. However, the best-fit power index increases with Ep up to approximately 3x1015 eV and then appears to remain constant at higher energies. (author)