Related papers: Transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic r…
The author has suggested that the knee phenomenon in the cosmic ray energy spectrum at 3 PeV can be explained as a split between a radiation-dominated expansion and a matter-dominated expansion of an expanding heat bath. The model proposed…
While from the energetic point of view SNRs are viable sources of Galactic CRs, the issue of whether they can accelerate protons up to PeV remains unsolved. Here we discuss particle acceleration at the forward shock of SN and discuss the…
An observation-based Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) spectral model for heavy nuclei is developed. Zhao and Qin (J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys.118, 1837(2013)) proposed an empirical elemental GCR spectra model for nuclear charge 5-28 over the…
We study general implications of the IceCube observations in the energy range from $10^{6}$ GeV to $10^{10}$ GeV for the origin of extragalactic ultrahigh energy cosmic rays assuming that high energy neutrinos are generated by the…
Cosmic rays may have contributed to the start of life on Earth. Here, we investigate the evolution of the Galactic cosmic ray spectrum at Earth from ages $t = 0.6-6.0\,$Gyr. We use a 1D cosmic ray transport model and a 1.5D stellar wind…
Recent results from the KASCADE experiment on measurements of cosmic rays in the energy range of the knee are presented. Emphasis is placed on energy spectra of individual mass groups as obtained from an two-dimensional unfolding applied to…
The long-held notion that the highest-energy cosmic rays are of distant extragalactic origin is challenged by observations that events above $\sim 10^{20}$ eV do not exhibit the expected high-energy cutoff from photopion production off the…
Auger Collaboration has reported a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 EeV. The dipole direction, at 125$^\circ$ from the Galactic center, is taken as an indication of an extragalactic origin of these…
We investigate signatures that would be produced in the spectrum and sky distribution of UHECR by a population of the Galactic sources of high-energy protons in the energy range around 1~EeV, i.e., around the diffusive-to-ballistic…
Cosmic ray (CR) acceleration at the shock created by the expanding cocoons around active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is studied. It is shown that above the energy $10^{18}$ eV the overall energy spectrum of CRs, produced during the AGN evolution…
Observations of TeV--PeV-energy cosmic neutrinos by the IceCube observatory have suggested that extragalactic cosmic-ray sources should have an optical depth greater than $\sim$0.01 and contribute to more than 10\% of the observed bulk of…
The extragalactic sources of ultra-high-energy (E > 4x10^19 eV) cosmic rays that make a small contribution to the flux of particles recorded by ground-based arrays are discussed. We show that cosmic rays from such sources can produce a…
The origin of the highest energy Galactic cosmic rays is still not understood, nor is the transition to EeV extragalactic particles. Scientific progress requires enhancements of existing air-shower arrays, such as: IceCube with its surface…
A substantial increase of the mean logarithmic mass $<\ln A>$ of galactic cosmic rays {\em vs} energy has been observed . We study three effects that could explain this trend i) different source spectra for protons and heavy nuclei ii) a…
The absence of the expected GZK cutoff strongly challenges the notion that the highest-energy cosmic rays are of distant extragalactic origin. We discuss the possibility that these ultra-high-energy events originate in our Galaxy and…
The chemical composition of the highest-energy cosmic rays, namely the atomic number $Z$ of rays with energies $E\gtrsim40~\mathrm{EeV}$, remains to date largely unknown. Some information on the composition can be inferred from the…
The differential intensity of cosmic radiation shows a sequence of depressions referred to as "knees" in a large energy band above 10^15 eV. The global depression entailed in the complete spectrum with respect to the extrapolated intensity…
We reconsider the possibility that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the sources of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) within the internal shock model, assuming a pure proton composition of the UHECRs. For the first time, we combine the…
This review focuses on high-energy cosmic rays in the PeV energy range and above. Of particular interest is the knee of the spectrum around 3 PeV and the transition from cosmic rays of Galactic origin to particles from extra-galactic…
In this chapter I give an overview of shock acceleration, including a discussion of the maximum energies possible and the shape of the spectrum near cut-off, interactions of high energy cosmic rays with, and propagation through, the…