Related papers: Cosmic Rays from the Knee to the Highest Energies
The most energetic particles ever detected exceed $10^{20}$ eV in energy. Their existence represents at the same time a great challenge for particle physics and astrophysics, and a great promise of providing us for a probe of the validity…
A brief review about the chemical composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10^15 < E < 10^20 eV is given. While there is convincing evidence for an increasingly heavier composition above the knee, no clear picture has emerged at 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…
Results from the KASCADE air shower experiment investigating the origin of cosmic rays in the energy region from 10^13 to 10^17 eV are presented. Attention is drawn on the investigation of interactions in the atmosphere and the energy…
Cosmic rays represent one of the most important energy transformation processes of the universe. They bring information about the surrounding universe, our galaxy, and very probably also the extragalactic space, at least at the highest…
Recent advances in measuring and interpreting cosmic rays from the spectral ankle to the highest energies are briefly reviewed. The prime question at the highest energies is about the origin of the flux suppression observed at E ~ 4x10^{19}…
Several kinds of measurements are combined in an attempt to obtain a consistent estimate of the spectrum and composition of the primary cosmic radiation through the knee region. Assuming that the knee is a signal of the high-energy end of a…
We give a summary of the theoretical attempts to make sense of the observational data concerning the highest energy cosmic rays, (E > 3x10^{19} eV).
The detection of cosmic rays with energy around and in excess of $10^{20}$ eV raises many questions that future experiments will help answering to. I address here my view of some of these open issues, as they are now and as they might be…
The most recent experimental results on the cosmic ray composition and energy spectrum above 1 TeV are reviewed and discussed. All data agree on the presence of the so-called ``knee'' at an energy E(knee) = 3-4 PeV; the knee is seen in all…
Recent measurements of the properties of cosmic rays above 10^17 eV are summarized and implications on our contemporary understanding of their origin are discussed. Cosmic rays with energies exceeding 10^20 eV have been measured, they are…
I develop a theory to account for the cosmic ray spectrum. The essential assumption is that, due to fast convective motions, the free mean path perpendicular to the magnetic field is independent of energy and has the scale of the thickness…
Some new developments obtained in the last few years concerning the propagation of high energy cosmic rays are discussed. In particular, it is shown how the inclusion of drift effects in the transport diffusion equations leads naturally to…
The cosmic rays spectrum has been shown to extend well beyond 10^20 eV. With nearly 20 events observed in the last 40 years, it is now established that particles with energies near or above 10^21 eV. No nearby astrophysical object has been…
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 sophisticated unfolding procedures…
Cosmic rays represent one of the most important energy transformation processes of the universe. They bring information about the surrounding universe, our galaxy, and very probably also the extragalactic space, at least at the highest…
Investigations of the origin of cosmic rays are presented. Different methods are discussed: studies of cosmic gamma rays of energy from 30 MeV to about 10^15 eV (since photons point to their places of origin), studies of the mass…
The impressive power-law decay of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays over more than thirty orders of magnitude in intensity and for energies ranging over eleven decades between $\simeq 10^9 $eV and $\simeq 10^{20} $eV is actually dotted…
This is a summary of a series of lectures on the current experimental and theoretical status of our understanding of origin and nature of cosmic radiation. Specific focus is put on ultra-high energy cosmic radiation above ~10^17 eV,…
Recent progress suggests we are moving towards a quantitative understanding of the whole cosmic ray spectrum, and that many bumps due to different components and processes hide beneath a relatively smooth total flux between knee and ankle.…