Related papers: Microquasar Remnants as Pevatrons Illuminating the…
The origin of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs), particularly around the knee region ($\sim$3 PeV), remains a major unsolved question. Recent observations by LHAAASO suggest that the knee is shaped mainly by protons, with a transition to heavier…
Recently, LHAASO detected a gamma-ray emission extending beyond $100\,\rm{TeV}$ from 4 sources associated to powerful microquasars. We propose that such sources are the main Galactic PeVatrons and investigate their contribution to the…
The origin of the cosmic-ray (CR) knee remains one of the central open questions in particle astrophysics. Recent measurements by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory revealed a pronounced feature in the proton spectrum at…
Recently, LHAASO has detected five microquasars with high confidence, which are associated with SS 433, V4641 Sgr, GRS 1915+105, MAXI J1820+070, and Cygnus X-1, respectively. Except for Cygnus X-1, the maximum energies of gamma-ray photons…
Cosmic rays (CRs) are charged particles that arrive at Earth isotropically from all directions and interact with the atmosphere. The presence of a spectral knee feature seen in the CR spectrum at $\sim$3 PeV energies is an evidence that…
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…
In the standard Galactic cosmic-ray (CR) paradigm, protons are accelerated up to ~1 PeV by Galactic sources. While supernova remnants (SNRs) have been traditionally considered as the primary accelerators, recent observations by LHAASO and…
A "knee" in the cosmic-ray spectrum, characterized by a sudden steepening of the spectral shape at $\sim 4$ PeV, may be interpreted either as a global feature of Galactic cosmic rays or as a local signature. In the former scenario,…
We show that massive young star clusters may be possible candidates that can accelerate Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in the range of $10^7\hbox{--}10^9$ GeV (between the `knee' and `ankle'). Various plausible scenarios such as acceleration at…
The search for Galactic pevatrons is now a well-identified key science project of all instruments operating in the very-high-energy domain. Indeed, in this energy range, the detection of gamma rays clearly indicates that efficient particle…
Observations of diffuse gamma rays above hundreds of TeV from the Galactic disk provide strong evidence for the existence of PeV cosmic-ray accelerators--so-called PeVatrons--in the Galaxy. However, mounting observations have ruled out most…
Very-high-energy gamma-ray observations of the Galactic center (GC) show extended emission that is strongly correlated with the morphology of the central molecular zone (CMZ). The best explanation for that emission is a hadronic interaction…
The Pevatron Test Statistic (PTS) is applied to data from $\gamma$-ray observatories to test for the origin of Cosmic Rays (CRs) at energies around the knee of the CR spectrum. Several sources are analyzed within hadronic emission models.…
The Earth is bombarded by ultra-relativistic particles, known as cosmic rays (CRs). CRs with energies up to a few PeV (=10$^{15}$ eV), the knee in the particle spectrum, are believed to have a Galactic origin. One or more factories of PeV…
The identification of major contributors to the locally observed fluxes of Cosmic Rays (CRs) is a prime objective towards the resolution of the long-standing enigma of CRs. We report on a compelling similarity of the energy and radial…
``PeVatrons" refer to astrophysical sources capable of accelerating particles to energies $\sim$PeV and higher, potentially contributing to the cosmic ray spectrum in the knee region. Recently, HAWC and LHAASO have discovered a new type…
Although supernova remnants remain the main suspects as sources of Galactic cosmic rays up to the knee, the supernova paradigm still has many loose ends. The weakest point in this construction is the possibility that individual supernova…
We explore several aspects related to the propagation of high energy cosmic rays (CRs) of galactic origin (i.e. in the range $E\simeq 10^{15}- 10^{18}$ eV). In particular, we study in detail the diffusion/drift scenario, a…
Supernova remnants are believed to be the main sites where Galactic cosmic rays originate. This scenario, however, fails to explain some of the features observed in the cosmic-ray spectrum. Microquasars have been proposed as additional…
We revisit the idea that the Galactic center (GC) is the dominant source of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), based on a series of new observational evidence. A unified model is proposed to explain the new phenomena of GCRs and $\gamma$-rays…