THE MAKET-ANI EXPERIMENT - STUDY OF EAS IN THE PARTICLE-NUMBER RANGE 5X10(4)-5X10(7)

The Maket-ANI experiment designed to study the electron and high-energ y gamma-hadron components of EAS in the particle-number range 5 X 10(4 )-5 X 10(7) at high altitudes (Mt. Aragac, Armenia, 700 g/cm2) is desc ribed. The method of analysis is described, and the results of studyin g the electron component in the EAS core region are given. It is found that the electron spatial distribution is approximated by the NKG fun ction for distances in the range 1-40 m and EAS ages in the range 0.2- 1.8. The indicess of the integrated EAS particle-number spectrum are - 1.50 +/- 0.01 and -1.87 +/- 0.04 at the spectrum knee (0.8 +/- 0.2) X 10(6). The average value of the age parameter is 1.02 +/- 0.005, indep endently of the number of EAS particles in the range 10(5)-8 X 10(6), and increases in the EAS particle-number range 8 X 10(6)-5 X 10(7) wit h the average value 1.15 +/- 0.07.