DOES THE "KNEE" IN PRIMARY COSMIC RAY SPECTRUM EXIST?

Abstract

The problem of the knee in primary cosmic ray at energy about 3–5 PeV is the most exciting problem in cosmic ray physics. Since 1958, physicists have been trying to solve this problem. In our opinion, the problem could be solved from the experimental point of view, whereas the primary spectrum would follow a pure power law. A key to the "knee" problem lies in the hadronic structure of EAS and its propagation in the Earth's atmosphere. Neither exotic processes nor new physics are used. An explanation of the approach and some results of Monte Carlo simulations are given below.