Related papers: Astrophysics: Most distant cosmic blast seen
Gamma-ray bursts and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays provide an important testing ground for fundamental physics. A simple-minded analysis of some gamma-ray bursts would lead to a huge estimate of the overall energy emitted, and this…
Ball lightning is a very rarely observed phenomenon that makes it extremely difficult to characterize scientifically. Eye-witness accounts of ball lightning that describe many features in common have been variously recorded for centuries.…
Gamma rays constitute a privileged point of view for the study of the extreme Universe. Unlike charged cosmic rays, which are thought to have a common origin, gamma rays are not deflected by galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields. This…
Although cosmic rays were discovered 90 years ago, we do not know how and where they are accelerated. There is compelling evidence that the highest energy cosmic rays are extra-galactic -- they cannot be contained by our galaxy's magnetic…
The epoch of Cosmic Dawn, when the first stars and galaxies were born, is widely considered the final frontier of observational cosmology today. Mapping the period between Cosmic Dawn and the present-day provides access to more than 90% of…
The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays represents one of the most conspicuous enigmas of modern astrophysics, in spite of gigantic experimental efforts in the past fifty years, and of active theoretical research. The past decade has…
The infrared sky from space is the sum of a cosmic signal from galaxies, quasars, and perhaps more exotic sources; and foregrounds from the Milky Way and from the Solar System. At a distance of 1 AU from the Sun, the foreground from…
Most of the matter in the universe is invisible. I review the status of dark matter and describe how both the theory of galaxy formation and novel types of experimental searches are revitalizing attempts to find non-baryonic dark matter.
1. Overview of neutrino astronomy: multidisciplinary science. 2. Cosmic accelerators: the highest energy cosmic rays. 3. Neutrino beam dumps: supermassive black holes and gamma ray bursts. 4. Neutrino telescopes: water and ice. 5. Indirect…
There is evidence that cosmic rays were present in galaxies at moderately high redshift. This suggests that magnetic fields were also present. If cosmic rays and magnetic fields must always be close to equipartition, as they are to an order…
Starburst galaxies are well-motivated astrophysical emitters of high-energy gamma-rays. They are well-known cosmic-ray "reservoirs", thanks to their large magnetic fields which confine high-energy protons for $\sim 10^5$ years. Over such…
From the time the first stars formed over 13 billion years ago to the present, star formation has had an unexpectedly dynamic history. At first, the star formation rate density increased dramatically, reaching a peak 10 billion years ago…
The detection and identification of distant galaxies is a prominent goal of observational cosmology because distant galaxies are seen as they were in the distant past and hence probe early galaxy formation, due to the cosmologically…
It is argued that there are three `origins' of cosmic rays; the origin of the particles, the origin of the energy, and the site of the acceleration. The evidence for each origin is discussed and a plausible synthesis outlined for the…
A scenario is presented where large quark-gluon plasma (QGP) objects escaping the quark-hadron transition in the early Universe account for the baryonic dark matter as well as act as the sources for gamma-ray bursts. Two basic assumptions…
Recently the anisotropy of the short gamma-ray bursts detected by BATSE was announced (Vavrek et al. 2008). The impact of this discovery on cosmology is discussed. It is shown that the anisotropy found may cause the breakdown of the…
We point out that each of the error boxes of the two highest-energy cosmic-ray shower events known, overlaps with that of a strong gamma-ray burst (GRB). The GRBs precede the cosmic rays by 5.5, and 11 months respectively. In one case the…
The origin of the galaxies represents an important focus of current cosmological research, both observational and theoretical. Its resolution involves a comprehensive understanding of star formation, galaxy dynamics, the cosmology of the…
The last half-century has seen dramatic developments in gamma-ray telescopes, from their initial conception and development through to their blossoming into full maturity as a potent research tool in astronomy. Gamma-ray telescopes are…
Highly relativistic jets from merger and accretion induced collapse of compact stellar objects, which may produce the cosmological gamma ray bursts (GRBs), are also very efficient and powerful cosmic ray accelerators. The expected…