Investigation of Muon Puzzle with GRAPES-3 Experiment

One of the outstanding problems in cosmic ray (CR) physics is the mismatch between simulated and observed muon numbers termed as the muon puzzle. While a theoretical investigation is needed, it is necessary to obtain as much as data possible beyond any ambiguity from various experiments, sensitive in different energy ranges of cosmic ray spectrum. The GRAPES-3 experiment located at Ooty, India is sensitive to the observation of cosmic rays over a wide range of energies from $$10^{13}$$ to $$10^{16}$$ eV. The large area muon detector of GRAPES-3 provides a sensitive measurement of muon content in the cosmic ray showers. An investigation of muon puzzle based on the Monte Carlo simulation of cosmic ray showers with CORSIKA is discussed.