Related papers: A Quantum Phase Transition in the Cosmic Ray Energ…
A calculation based on flat spacetime symmetries shows how there can be two quantum phases. For one, extreme phase change determines a conventional classical trajectory and four-momentum, i.e. mass times four-velocity. The other phase…
A second-order quantum phase transition in two-species Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb atoms coupled by a quantized radiant field is revealed explicitly in terms of the energy spectrum which is obtained in the thermodynamic limit and is…
The physics of the 20th Century is governed by two pillars, Einstein's relativity principle and the quantum principle. At the beginning of the 21st Century, it becomes clear that there exist the smallest units of matter, such as electrons,…
The energies of cosmic rays, fully ionized charged nuclei, extend over a wide range up to 10^20 eV. A particularly interesting energy region spans from 10^14 to 10^18 eV, where the all-particle energy spectrum exhibits two interesting…
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…
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…
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…
An overview on the present observational status and phenomenological understanding of cosmic rays above 10^16 eV is given. Above these energies the cosmic ray flux is expected to be gradually dominated by an extra-galactic component. In…
A brief motivation for studying cosmic rays at energies 10^14 < E < 10^17 eV is given. Besides astrophysical interests in identifying and understanding their sources, there are also particle physics aspects related to their transport…
In this paper we review the main features of the observed Cosmic Rays spectrum in the energy range $10^{17} {\rm eV}~\div~10^{20} {\rm eV}$. We present a theoretical model that explains the main observed features of the spectrum, namely the…
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…
We have recently shown that the cosmic ray energy distributions as detected on earthbound, low flying balloon or high flying satellite detectors can be computed by employing the heats of evaporation of high energy particles from…
Quantum fluctuations and related phase transitions are of current interest from the viewpoint of fundamental physics and technological applications. Quantum phase implies a region where the quantum fluctuations of energy scale $\hbar\omega$…
We give a general introduction to quantum phase transitions in strongly-correlated electron systems. These transitions which occur at zero temperature when a non-thermal parameter $g$ like pressure, chemical composition or magnetic field is…
In this lecture at a school for condensed matter physicists, I begin with basic concepts and tools for investigating phase transitions in quantum field theory. The very different roles of global and gauge symmetries in phase transitions…
The study of cosmic phase transitions are of central interest in modern cosmology. In the standard model of cosmology the Universe begins in a very hot state, right after at the end of inflation via the process of reheating/preheating, and…
Two structures in the all-particle energy spectrum of cosmic rays, the knee at 4 PeV and the second knee around 400 PeV are proposed to be explained by a phenomenological model, the poly gonato model, connecting direct and indirect…
In the paper the thermal energy transfer for elementary particles is described. The quantum heat transport equation is obtained. It is shown that for thermal excitation of the order of the relaxation time the excited matter response is…
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…
A new microcanonical equilibrium state is introduced for quantum systems with finite-dimensional state spaces. Equilibrium is characterised by a uniform distribution on a level surface of the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. The…