Related papers: Cosmic Rays: The Second Knee and Beyond
From the data on Cherenkov light from EASs collected over the period of more than 15 years, the spectrum of cosmic rays was obtained in the energy range 1.0E15-1.0E18 eV. This spectrum has two features: at ~3.0E15 eV (first knee) and at…
The energy density of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) in the Universe is a very important parameter for the solution of the puzzle of their origin. It defines the luminosity of the UHECR sources and thus the type of objects they…
Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) arrive at Earth from the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. They collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere with energies about ten times higher than any man-made accelerator,…
Primary energy spectrum of cosmic rays exhibits a knee at about $3$ PeV where a change in the spectral index occurs. Despite many efforts the origin of such a feature of the spectrum is not satisfactorily solved yet. Here it is proposed…
We consider the stochastic propagation of high-energy protons and nuclei in the cosmological microwave and infrared backgrounds, using revised photonuclear cross-sections and following primary and secondary nuclei in the full 2D nuclear…
The energies of cosmic rays, fully ionized charged nuclei, extend over a wide range up to 10^20 eV. A particularly interesting energy region spans from 10^14 to 10^18 eV, where the all-particle energy spectrum exhibits two interesting…
GeV-TeV gamma-ray and PeV-EeV neutrino backgrounds provide a unique window on the nature of the ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs). We discuss the implications of the recent Fermi-LAT data regarding the extragalactic gamma-ray…
We discuss the basic difficulties in understanding the origin of the highest energy particles in the Universe - the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR). It is difficult to imagine the sources they are accelerated in. Because of the strong…
The significant attenuation of the cosmic-ray flux above $\sim 5 10^{19}$ eV suggests that the observed high-energy spectrum is shaped by the so-called GZK effect. This interaction of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with the ambient…
Investigations of the energy spectrum as well as the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range of PeVto EeV are important for understanding both, the origin of the galactic and the extragalactic cosmic rays. Recently, three modern…
In a comprehensive model of Cosmic Rays (CRs) proposed a decade ago, the energies of the spectral "knees" of the various CR species were predicted to be proportional to mass, rather than charge. The model also predicts the knees to occur at…
In the first part of this review we discuss the basic observational features at the end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. We also present there the main characteristics of each of the experiments involved in the detection of these…
Large-scale accretion shocks around massive clusters of galaxies, generically expected in hierarchical scenarios of cosmological structure formation, are shown to be potential sources of the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by…
Ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) interact with cosmic background radiation through hadronic processes, and the Universe would become `opaque' to UHE CRs of energies $\sim$($10^{18}$- $10^{20}$) eV over about several tens of Mpc,…
For several decades, the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been an unsolved question of high-energy astrophysics. One approach for solving this puzzle is to correlate UHECRs with high-energy neutrinos, since neutrinos are…
The study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has recently experienced a jump in statistics as well as improved instrumentation. This has allowed a better sensitivity in searching for anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic…
All information about primary cosmic rays above the knee has been obtained from results of EAS investigations. At that, two alternative approaches exist: cosmophysical and nuclear physical. In the frame of the first one, all changes in…
Large-scale accretion shocks around massive clusters of galaxies, generically expected in the cold dark matter scenario of cosmological structure formation, are shown to be plausible sources of the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic rays…
Cosmic rays of energy higher than 10^19 eV may be explained by topological defects produced in the early stages of universe. Two suitable alternatives are: necklaces formed by magnetic monopoles connected by strings, and vortons which are…
The main purpose of this work is to find the causes of the break of the cosmic ray spectrum at an energy of 3 PeV, which is called the knee. The solution of the problem is associated with the determination of the nuclear composition of…