Related papers: Cosmic-Ray Events as Background in Imaging Atmosph…
The presence of muons in air-showers initiated by cosmic ray protons and nuclei is well established as a powerful tool to separate such showers from those initiated by gamma rays. However, so far this approach has been fully exploited only…
We explore scenarios where the highest energy cosmic rays (HECR) are produced by new particle physics near the grand unification scale. Using detailed numerical simulations of extragalactic cosmic and gamma-ray propagation, we show the…
Telescopes -- far seeing -- have since centuries revealed insights to objects at cosmic distances. Adopted for gamma-ray-astronomy, ground based Cherenkov-telescopes image the faint Cherenkov-light of air-showers induced by cosmic…
Stereoscopic arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes allow to reconstruct gamma-ray-induced showers in 3 dimensions, which offers several advantages: direct access to the shower parameters in space and straightforward…
In the past few years gamma-ray astronomy has entered a golden age. A modern suite of telescopes is now scanning the sky over both hemispheres and over six orders of magnitude in energy. At $\sim$TeV energies, only a handful of sources were…
The Milky Way contains hundreds of binary systems which are known to emit in radio and X-rays, but only a handful of binaries have been observed to produce very high-energy gamma rays. In addition, the emission mechanisms which produce the…
Recently, two nearby prominent starburst galaxies, M82 and NGC253, have been detected as point-like sources with gamma-ray telescopes at TeV energies [1] [2]. It has been claimed that these detections show that the cosmic ray intensity in…
The gamma-ray energy region between 20 and 250 GeV is largely unexplored. Ground-based atmospheric Cherenkov detectors offer a possible way to explore this region, but large Cherenkov photon collection areas are needed to achieve low energy…
The origin of the extragalactic gamma-ray background is a pressing cosmological mystery. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has recently measured the intensity and spectrum of this background; both are substantially different from previous…
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a ground based air-shower array deployed on the slopes of Volcan Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico. While HAWC is optimized for the detection of gamma-ray induced…
The magnetic field of the Solar corona is difficult to measure directly. However, indirect observations of the solar corona are possible using the deficit in flux of cosmic rays coming from the direction of the Sun. Low-energy cosmic rays…
The general aim of this work is to obtain the lateral distribution of atmospheric Cherenkov light in extensive air showers produced by different primary particles precisely by. protons, Helium, Iron, Oxygen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Calcium,…
In the context of atmospheric shower arrays designed for $\gamma$-ray astronomy and in the context of the ALTO project, we present: a study of the impact of heavier nuclei in the cosmic-ray background on the estimated $\gamma$-ray detection…
The exploration of cosmic rays, which are high-energy particles originate from space and the atmosphere, has historically been associated with particle physics and astrophysics. In the last 20 years, these particles have evolved into…
Cosmic ray data may allow the determination of the proton-air cross section at ultra-high energy. For example, the distribution of the first interaction point in air showers reflects the particle production cross section. As it is not…
This paper begins with a pedagogical discussion of the propagation of cosmic rays and the showers produced when a cosmic ray primary hits the upper atmosphere. The paper focusses cosmic rays, with energy > 10^19 eV. Emphasis is placed on…
Very High Energy (VHE) gamma rays and charged cosmic rays (CCRs) provide an observational window into the acceleration mechanisms of extreme astrophysical environments. One of the major challenges at Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs)…
We argue that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be the origin of the cosmic gamma-ray background radiation observed in GeV range. It has theoretically been discussed that protons may carry a much larger amount of energy than electrons in GRBs,…
Subatomic particles can interact with target nuclei in matter or decay in flight, and an individual high-energy particle can induce a particle shower composed of numerous, lower-energy secondaries. These particle showers broadly exhibit…
Very high-energy gamma-ray measurements of distant blazars can be well explained by secondary gamma rays emitted by cascades induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The secondary gamma rays will enable one to detect a large number of…