Related papers: Solar System objects as cosmic rays detectors
Significant progress has been made over the past decades towards unveiling the sources of the most energetic particles in nature, the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). Despite these advancements, the exact astrophysical sites capable…
Large-scale accretion shocks around massive clusters of galaxies, generically expected in hierarchical scenarios of cosmological structure formation, are shown to be potential sources of the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by…
In this paper, prepared for the Physics in Collisions 2008 Conference, the most recent results on UHECRs from earth-based observatories are exposed and reviewed.
The arrival directions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) may show anisotropies on all scales, from just above the experimental angular resolution up to medium scales and dipole anisotropies. We find that a global comparison of the…
While the fluorescence and the ground counter techniques for the detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) were being developed for decades, the interest in the radio detection diminished after the initial experiments in the 1960s.…
Observations of cosmic rays have been improving at all energies, with higher statistics and reduced systematics. Fundamental questions remain regarding the origins of cosmic rays both within the Galaxy and in extragalactic sources, and new…
The arguments suggesting an association between the sources of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are presented. Recent GRB and UHECR observations are shown to strengthen these…
Astroparticles offer a new path for research in the field of particle physics, allowing investigations at energies above those accesible with accelerators. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays can be studied via the observation of the showers they…
Research in cosmic rays is now nearly a century old, but most of the fundamental questions in this field remain unanswered, on the other hand the perspectives of future studies in the next decade are very bright. New detectors will provide…
The origin and nature of the highest energy cosmic ray events is currently the subject of intense investigation by giant air shower arrays and fluorescent detectors. These particles reach energies well beyond what can be achieved in…
Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), with energies above ~6 x 10^19 eV, seem to show a weak correlation with the distribution of matter relatively near to us in the universe. It has earlier been proposed that UHECRs could be accelerated…
K-EUSO (KLYPVE-EUSO) is a planned orbital mission aimed at studying ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by detecting fluorescence and Cherenkov light emitted by extensive air showers in the nocturnal atmosphere of Earth in the…
In this article I review the main theoretical problems that are posed by the highest energy end of the observed cosmic ray spectrum, stressing the importance of establishing their composition in order to decide between proposed scenarios. I…
We investigate the detection of exotic massive strongly interacting hadrons (uhecrons) in ultra high energy cosmic ray telescopes. The conclusion is that experiments such as the Pierre Auger Observatory have the potential to detect these…
The energy density of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) in the Universe is a very important parameter for the solution of the puzzle of their origin. It defines the luminosity of the UHECR sources and thus the type of objects they…
A checklist of criteria is presented to help establish the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). These criteria are applied to long-duration GRBs in order to determine if they are UHECR sources. The evidence seems to favor…
Due to fundamental limitations of accelerators, only cosmic rays can give access to centre-of- mass energies more than one order of magnitude above those reached at the LHC. In fact, extreme energy cosmic rays (1018 eV - 1020 eV) are the…
Observation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) -whose energy exceeds $10^20$eV- is still a puzzle for modern astrophysics. The transfer of more than 16 Joules to a microscopic particle can hardly be achieved, even in the most powerful…
If ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are accelerated at astrophysical point sources, the identification of such sources can be achieved if there is some kind of radiation at observable wavelengths that may be associated with the…
The origin of the cosmic rays has been a great mystery since they were discovered by Victor Hess in 1912. AGASA's observation of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECR) possibly beyond the GZK (Greisen, Zatsepin and Kuzmin) cutoff stimulated…