Related papers: H.E.S.S. observations of galaxy clusters
Clusters of galaxies can potentially produce cosmic rays (CRs) up to very-high energies via large-scale shocks and turbulent acceleration. Due to their unique magnetic-field configuration, CRs with energy $\leq 10^{17}$ eV can be trapped…
It is shown that the acceleration of particles by a powerful relativistic jet associated with the activity of a supermassive black hole in the Galactic center several million years ago may explain the observed cosmic ray spectrum at…
It has been speculated that the recently detected ultra-high energy cosmic rays may originate from the decays of relic particles with mass of order $10^{12}$ GeV clustered in the halo of our Galaxy. This hypothesis can be tested through…
The existence of cosmic rays of energies exceeding 10^20 eV is one of the mysteries of high energy astrophysics. The spectrum and the high energy to which it extends rule out almost all suggested source models. The challenges posed by…
A fundamental question that can be answered in the next decade is: WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE HIGHEST ENERGY COSMIC PARTICLES? The discovery of the sources of the highest energy cosmic rays will reveal the workings of the most energetic…
We review the basic ideas on the origin of cosmic rays with energy in excess of $\sim 10^{19}$ eV, in the light of the most recent observational findings. The limited statistics of events detected by the two largest experiments currently…
The Universe expansion rate is modulated around local inhomogeneities due to their gravitational potential. Velocity waves are then observed around galaxy clusters in the Hubble diagram. This paper studies them in a ~738 Mpc wide, with…
Groups and clusters of galaxies occupy a special position in the hierarchy of large-scale cosmic structures because they are the largest and the most massive (from ~10^13 Msun to over 10^15 Msun) objects in the universe that have had time…
Cosmological measurements indicate that a large component of non-visible gravitating matter is present in the universe. A common hypothesis for its origin is a weakly interacting, massive particle. Annihilations or decays of such particles…
Young massive star clusters (YMSCs) have been proposed as excellent candidates for the main sources of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) up to the PeV range. The detection and study of gamma rays in the very-high-energy (E>100GeV) range has…
Clusters of galaxies are the most massive objects in the Universe and precise knowledge of their mass structure is important to understand the history of structure formation and constrain still unknown types of dark contents of the…
Diffuse $\gamma$-ray emission is the most prominent observable signature of celestial cosmic-ray interactions at high energies. While already being investigated at GeV energies over several decades, assessments of diffuse $\gamma$-ray…
Most models of the origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays rely on the existence of luminous extragalactic sources. Cosmic rays escaping the galaxy where the source is located produce a sufficiently large electric current to justify the…
Globular clusters (GCs) with their ages of the order of several billion years contain many final products of evolution of stars such as: neutron stars, white dwarfs and probably also black holes. These compact objects can be at present…
Protons can be plausibly accelerated to $\sim 10^{18}$-$10^{19}$ eV in strong accretion shocks surrounding massive clusters of galaxies. Such protons efficiently produce very high energy pairs through interactions with the CMB, which then…
Rich clusters of galaxies, the largest virialized systems known, provide a powerful tool for the study of cosmology. Some of the fundamental questions that can be addressed with clusters of galaxies include: how did galaxies and large-scale…
Introducing a simple Galactic wind model patterned after the solar wind we show that back-tracing the orbits of the highest energy cosmic events suggests that they may all come from the Virgo cluster, and so probably from the active radio…
We discuss a specific population of galactic PeVatrons which may be the main source of the galactic cosmic-ray (CR) component well above PeV energies. Supernovae in compact clusters of massive stars are proposed as powerful sources of CRs,…
Radio galaxies are intensively discussed as the sources of cosmic rays observed above about $3\,{\times}\,10^{18}\,\text{eV}$, called ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We present a first, systematic approach that takes the individual…
Most clusters and groups of galaxies contain a giant elliptical galaxy in their centres which far outshines and outweighs normal ellipticals. The origin of these brightest cluster galaxies is intimately related to the collapse and formation…