Thermal Neutrons in Eas: A New Dimension in Eas Study

A new method to study Extensive Air Shower (EAS) hadronic component is proposed. It is shown that addition of specific detectors for thermal neutron detection to a standard array for EAS study can significantly improve its performance. Results of CORSIKA based Monte Carlo simulations as well as preliminary experimental data are presented. A proposal of novel type of EAS array is given.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, a talk given at ISVHECRI2007, Weihai, China. To be published in Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.

Carpet-3 - a new experiment to study primary composition around the knee

We propose a new experiment to study primary composition around the knee. The Carpet-3 EAS array is the further development of the Carpet-2 EAS array (1700 m a.s.l., Baksan Valley) and it is supposed to be a multi-component and multi-purpose array detecting, in the EASs with $E > 10^{13}$ eV, electrons, gammas, muons (with a threshold energy of 1 GeV), hadrons (with energies more than 30 GeV), and thermal neutrons as well. The experimental data are to be used in the multi-component analysis to make conclusions about the composition of the primary cosmic rays.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Presented at the XV International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, Paris, France, September 1-6, 200