Related papers: Recent developments in cosmic ray physics
It is generally regarded that the bulk of cosmic rays originate in the Galaxy and that those below the 'knee' (the rapid steepening in the energy spectrum) at a few PeV come from Galactic supernovae, the particles being accelerated by the…
Recent progress in cosmic ray physics covering the energy range from about 10^{14} eV to 10^{19} eV is reviewed. The most prominent features of the energy spectrum are the so called `knee' at E ~ 3 * 10^{15} eV and the `ankle' at few…
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.…
Cosmic rays are charged relativistic particles that reach the Earth with extremely high energies, providing striking evidence of the existence of effective accelerators in the Universe. Below an energy around $\sim 10^{17}$ eV cosmic rays…
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…
An overview is given on the present status of the understanding of the origin of galactic cosmic rays. Recent measurements of charged cosmic rays and photons are reviewed. Their impact on the contemporary knowledge about the sources and…
Energetic particles, traditionally called Cosmic Rays, were discovered nearly a hundred years ago, and their origin is still uncertain. Their main constituents are the normal nuclei as in the standard cosmic abundances of matter, with some…
Cosmic rays around the knee are generally believed to be of galactic origin. Observations on their energy spectrum and chemical composition are important for understanding the acceleration and propagation of these cosmic rays. In addition,…
The problem of the origin of Cosmic Rays is now over a century old and while there has been substantial progress, especially in the last decade, there are still open questions. The question of "origin" is open to at least three possible…
It is thought that Galactic cosmic ray (CR) nuclei are gradually accelerated to high energies (up to ~300 TeV/nucleon, where 1TeV=10^12eV) in the expanding shock-waves connected with the remnants of powerful supernova explosions. However,…
A sudden steepening of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum (the knee) is observed at an energy of about 3 PeV (1 PeV = $10^{15}$ eV). The experimental study of the PeV cosmic rays has intensified greatly during the last 3 years. The recent…
The search for the origin of cosmic rays is as active as ever, mainly driven by new insights provided by recent pieces of observation. Much effort is being channelled in putting the so called supernova paradigm for the origin of galactic…
A review is given of the main properties of the charged component of galactic cosmic rays, particles detected at Earth with an energy spanning from tens of MeV up to about 10^19 eV. After a short introduction to the topic and an historical…
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…
Cosmic rays around the so-called knee in the spectrum at around PeV primary energy are generally galactic in origin. Observations on the form of their energy spectrum and their mass composition are fundamental tools to understand the…
While there is some level of consensus on a Galactic origin of cosmic rays up to the knee ($E_{k}\sim 3\times 10^{15}$ eV) and on an extragalactic origin of cosmic rays with energy above $\sim 10^{19}$ eV, the debate on the genesis of…
The origin of the knee in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays is an outstanding problem in astroparticle physics. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to explain the structure in the all-particle spectrum. In the article basic ideas of…
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…
Observations of cosmic rays have been improved at all energies, both in terms of higher statistics and reduced systematics. As a result, the all particle cosmic ray energy spectrum starts to exhibit more structures than could be seen…
Supernova remnants have long been regarded as sources of the Galactic cosmic rays up to petaelectronvolts, but convincing evidence is still lacking. In this work we explore the common origin of the subtle features of the cosmic ray spectra,…