Related papers: Sources of primary cosmic rays
Galactic cosmic-rays (GCRs) are thought to be accelerated in strong shocks induced by massive star winds and supernova explosions sweeping across the interstellar medium. But the phase of the interstellar medium from which the CRs are…
A surprisingly large flux of extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos was discovered by the IceCube experiment. While the flux of muon neutrinos with energies $E>100$ TeV is consistent with the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EBL)…
We propose an explanation for the far-infrared/radio correlation of galaxies in terms of the energy balance of the interstellar medium and determine the flux from high-energy photons and neutrinos from starburst galaxies. We present a…
Recent studies suggest that the most energetic cosmic rays, exceeding 100 EeV, may primarily consist of $r$-process nuclei. This highlights binary neutron star mergers and collapsars as promising sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays…
This article describes experiments in space which measure charged cosmic ray particles in the range from $10\,\mathrm{GV}$ to $10^5\,\mathrm{GV}$ of magnetic rigidity $p/(Ze)$. In this energy range, cosmic rays are expected to originate…
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…
The origin of cosmic rays from outside the Solar system are unknown, as they are deflected by the interstellar magnetic field. Supernova remnants are the main candidate for cosmic rays up to PeV energies but due to lack of evidence, they…
It has recently been shown that the highest energy cosmic rays (CRs) may originate in the same cosmological objects producing $\gamma$-ray bursts. This model requires the presence of intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMF) to delay the arrival…
Recent results from the multi-detector set-up KASCADE on measurements of cosmic rays in the energy range of the so called "first" knee (at approx. 3 PeV) indicate a distinct knee in the energy spectra of light primary cosmic rays and an…
Identification of the cosmic-ray (CR) `PeVatrons', which are sources capable of accelerating particles to $\sim10^{15}$ eV energies and higher, may lead to resolving the long-standing question of the origin of the spectral feature in the…
Recent results of the KASCADE-Grande experiment provided evidence for a mild knee-like structure in the all-particle spectrum of cosmic rays at $E = 10^{16.92 \pm 0.10} \, \mathrm{eV}$, which was found to be due to a steepening in the flux…
The direct measurements of cosmic rays (CRs), after correction for the propagation effects in the interstellar medium, indicate that their source spectra are likely to be significantly steeper than the canonical $E^{-2}$ spectrum predicted…
Measurements of cosmic ray fluxes by the PAMELA and CREAM experiments show unexpected spectral features between 200 GeV and 100 TeV. They could be due to the presence of nearby and young cosmic ray sources. This can be studied in the myriad…
We derive expressions for the time integrated spectrum of Cosmic Rays (CRs) that are accelerated in a decelerating relativistic shock wave and escape ahead of the shock. It is assumed that at any given time the CRs have a power law form,…
Recent measurements of the positron/electron ratio in the cosmic ray (CR) flux exhibits an apparent anomaly, whereby this ratio increases between 10 and 100 GeV. We show that inhomogeneity of CR sources on a scale of order a kpc, can…
Recent measurements revealed the presence of several features in the cosmic ray spectrum. In particular, the proton and helium spectra exhibit a spectral hardening at $\approx$ 300 GV and a spectral steeping at $\approx$ 15 TV, followed by…
The ratio of the fluxes of secondary and primary nuclei in cosmic rays has long been used as an indicator of the grammage traversed in the journey of cosmic ray particles throughout the Galaxy. The basic idea is that primary particles are…
The field of ultra-high energy cosmic rays made a lot of progresses last years with large area experiments such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, HiRes and the Telescope Array. A suppression of the cosmic ray flux at energies above…
The highest energy cosmic rays observed possess macroscopic energies and their origin is likely to be associated with the most energetic processes in the Universe. Their existence triggered a flurry of theoretical explanations ranging from…
In this chapter I give an overview of shock acceleration, including a discussion of the maximum energies possible and the shape of the spectrum near cut-off, interactions of high energy cosmic rays with, and propagation through, the…