Co-evolution of cosmic ray energy spectra, composition, and anisotropies
Abstract
The origin of cosmic rays remains an unresolved fundamental problem in astrophysics. The synergy of multiple observational probes, including the energy spectra, the mass composition, and anisotropy is a viable way to jointly uncover this mystery. In this work, we propose that the energy-dependent of those observables in a wide energy range, from GeV to ultrahigh energies of GeV, share quite a few correlated features, indicating a strong co-evolution which could be a consequence of the underlying origin of different source populations. We decipher these structures with a four-component model, i.e., the ensemble of Galactic sources, a local source close to the solar system, and the ensemble of two extra-galactic source populations. In this scenario, the GV hardening and TV bump is due to the contribution of the local source, the knee is due to the maximum acceleration energy of protons by the Galactic source population, the second knee is due to the maximum acceleration energy of iron nuclei by Galactic sources, the dip feature between the two knees is due to the appearance of the extra-galactic component, the ankle comes from the transition from one extra-galactic component to the other, and the spectral suppression at the highest energies arises from the acceleration limit of the second extra-galactic component. The transition from Galactic to extra-galactic origin of cosmic rays occurs around GeV, which is smaller than the ankle energy.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2506.18118,
title = {Co-evolution of cosmic ray energy spectra, composition, and anisotropies},
author = {Bing-Qiang Qiao and Qiang Yuan and Yi-Qing Guo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.18118},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
22 pages, 3 figures, accepted by JCAP