Related papers: An anti-knee
The search for a theory of the origin of cosmic rays that may be considered as a standard, agreeable model is still ongoing. On one hand, much circumstantial evidence exists of the fact that supernovae in our Galaxy play a crucial role in…
Cosmic rays begin to reveal their secrets at energies above 5 EeV. Beyond this characteristic energy, known as the spectral "ankle", the arrival-direction data from the Pierre Auger Observatory show anisotropy on large angular scales of…
We have developed a model that explains cosmic rays with energies E between \~0.3 PeV and the energy of the second knee at E_2 ~ 3*10^{17} eV as originating from a recent Galactic gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred ~1 Myr ago within 1 kpc…
The accurate determination of the elemental composition of cosmic rays at high energies is expected to provide crucial clues on the origin of these particles. Previous direct measurements of composition have been limited by experiment…
We report a measurement of the cosmic ray helium energy spectrum in the energy interval 0.16 -- 13~PeV, derived by subtracting the proton spectrum from the light component~(proton and helium) spectrum obtained with observations made by the…
We calculate event rate and demonstrate the observational feasibility of very high energy muons (1-1000 TeV) in a large mass underground detector operating as a pair-meter. This energy range corresponds to surface muon energies of $\sim$(5…
We show that the simplest assumptions for the dynamics of particle production allow us to understand the fluxes of hadrons and photons at mountain altitudes as well as the structure of individual events. The analysis requires a heavy…
Some six years ago, we (Erlykin and Wolfendale, 1997) proposed the `single source model' in which a local, recent supernova remnant (SNR) was responsible for the `knee' in the cosmic ray (CR) energy spectrum at ~3PeV. Stimulated by the…
All the components of cosmic rays have 'structure' in their energy spectra at some level, ie deviations from a simple power law, and their examination is relevant to the origin of the particles. Emphasis, here, is placed on the large-scale…
The Yakutsk array observes the Cherenkov light emitted by UHECR in atmosphere. Recently, an autonomous subarray is added consisting of photomultipliers to measure the showers in the knee region. Our aim is to analyze the combined data set…
The ARGO--YBJ experiment has been in stable data taking for more than five years at the Yangbajing cosmic ray observatory (Tibet, P.R. China, 4300 m a.s.l.). The detector collected about $5\times10^{11}$ events in a wide energy range from…
Our purpose is to evaluate the rate of the maximum energy and the acceleration rate that cosmic rays acquire in the non-relativistic diffusive shock acceleration as it could apply during their lifetime in various astrophysical sites, where…
The origin of the ultrahigh-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) from the second knee ($\sim6\times10^{17}$eV) above in the CR spectrum is still unknown. Recently, there has been growing evidence that a peculiar type of supernovae, called…
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…
The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5x10^18eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index gamma of the flux, J ~ E^-gamma, at energies between 4x10^18eV and 4x10^19eV is…
We reconsider the scenario in which the knee in the cosmic ray spectrum is explained as due to a change in the escape mechanism of cosmic rays from the Galaxy from one dominated by transverse diffusion to one dominated by drifts. We solve…
High statistical accuracy of experiments KASCADE and ANI allowed to obtain approximations of primary energy spectra and elemental composition in the "knee" region. Obtained results point out to the correctness of QGSJET interaction model…
We explore in some detail the scenario proposed to explain the observed knee of the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum as due to the effects of photodisintegration of the CR nuclei by interactions with optical and soft UV photons in the source…
We show that the second knee in the cosmic ray spectrum (i.e. the steepening occurring at $E\simeq 4\times 10^{17}$ eV) could be related to drift effects affecting the heaviest nuclear component, the iron group nuclei, in a scenario in…
It is shown that a variety of characteristic features of the high-energy hadronic cosmic ray spectra, in particular the abrupt changes in the spectral index that occur around 3 PeV and 300 PeV, as well as the corresponding changes in…