The method for the study of the inelastic cross-section for high energy protons by means of shower arrays with the large calorimetric area

Proton initiated showers could be reliably separated from showers initiated by cosmic ray nuclei by means of arrays with large calorimetric area, using distributions of energy fractions for EAS electromagnetic muon and hadron components. Proton initiated showers penetrate deeper into the atmosphere and have relatively lower energy fraction in muons. Distribution of that energy fraction is sensitive to the value of the proton inelastic cross-section. It is shown that the analysis of this distribution let one distinguish between log sup 2 S -rise and log S -rise of the cross-section at energies above 10 to the 15th power eV.