We observe the new phenomenon of anomalous prolonged time distributions of neutron intensity using the 18NM64-type neutron monitor operating together with the shower installation of the Tian-Shan mountain cosmic ray station. We observe anomalous events in the core region of extensive air showers (EAS) with the size Ne > 106. The threshold of their generation coincides with the ‘knee’ in the energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays (about 3 × 1015 eV). The prolonged neutron events are accompanied by the flows of EAS electrons and γ-quanta having time distributions similar to those of the neutrons. The discovered phenomenon may be a reason to make a principal change in the usual procedure of EAS exploration.

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The development of nuclear-electromagnetic cascade models in air in the late forties have shown informational content of the study of cores of extensive air showers (EAS). These investigations were the main goal in different experiments which were carried out over many years by a variety of methods. Outcomes of such investigations obtained in the HADRON experiment using an X-ray emulsion chamber (XREC) as a core detector are considered. The N e spectrum of EAS associated with γ-ray families, spectra of γ-rays (hadrons) in EAS cores and the N e dependence of the muon number, N µ , in EAS with γ-ray families are obtained for the first time at energies of 10 15-10 17 eV with this method. A number of new effects were observed, namely, an abnormal scaling violation in hadron spectra which are fundamentally different from model predictions, an excess of muon number in EAS associated with γ-ray families, and the penetrating component in EAS cores. It is supposed that the abnormal behavior of γ-ray spectra and N e dependence of the muon number are explained by the emergence of a penetrating component in the 1st PCR spectrum 'knee' range. Nuclear and astrophysical explanations of the origin of the penetrating component are discussed. The necessity of considering the contribution of a single close cosmic-ray source to explain the PCR spectrum in the knee range is noted.

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