Related papers: Cosmic rays, stellar evolution, and supernova phys…
One century ago Viktor Hess carried out several balloon flights that led him to conclude that the penetrating radiation responsible for the discharge of electroscopes was of extraterrestrial origin. One century from the discovery of this…
Diffusive shock acceleration is the prime candidate for efficient acceleration of cosmic rays. Galactic cosmic rays are believed to originate predominantly from this process in supernova remnant shock waves. Confinement of the cosmic rays…
Nonlinear kinetic theory of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants is employed to calculate CR spectra. The magnetic field in SNRs is assumed to be significantly amplified by the efficiently accelerating nuclear CR component. It…
The long-held notion that the highest-energy cosmic rays are of distant extragalactic origin is challenged by observations that events above $\sim 10^{20}$ eV do not exhibit the expected high-energy cutoff from photopion production off the…
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 recent results on extensive air showers allow us to conclude that: a) the knee has an astrophysical origin;…
Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) constitute a significant part of the energy budget of our Galaxy, and the study of their accelerators is of high importance in modern astrophysics. Their main sources are likely supernova remnants (SNRs). These…
The spectra of high-energy protons and nuclei accelerated by supernova remnant shocks are calculated taking into account magnetic field amplification and Alfvenic drift both upstream and downstream of the shock for different types of…
Several lines of evidence point to a relationship between gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the high mass stars that explode as supernovae. Arguments that GRB sources accelerate cosmic rays (CRs) are summarized. High-energy neutrino detection…
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…
The origin of Galactic cosmic-ray ions has remained an enigma for almost a century. Although it has generally been thought that they are accelerated in the shock waves associated with powerful supernova explosions-for which there have been…
Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be accelerated at supernova remnant shocks. Gamma-ray observations of both supernova remnants and associated molecular clouds have been used in several occasions to test (so far quite successfully) this…
Galactic cosmic rays are commonly believed to be accelerated at supernova remnants via diffusive shock acceleration. Despite the popularity of this idea, a conclusive proof for its validity is still missing. Gamma-ray astronomy provides us…
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…
We consider the galactic population of gamma-ray pulsars as possible sources of cosmic rays at and just above the ``knee'' in the observed cosmic ray spectrum at $10^{15}$--$10^{16}$ eV. We suggest that iron nuclei may be accelerated in the…
The last decade has been dense with new developments in the search for the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Some of these developments have confirmed the tight connection between cosmic rays and supernovae in our Galaxy, through the…
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 theory of diffusive particle acceleration explains the spectral properties of the cosmic rays below energies of approx. 10^6 GeV as produced at strong shocks in supernova remnants (SNR's). To supply the observed flux of cosmic rays, a…
There are two distinct breaks in the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum: the so-called "knee" around $3 \times 10^{15}$ eV and the so-called "ankle" around $10^{18}$ eV. Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at supernova remnant (SNR) shock fronts is…
The maximum cosmic ray energy achievable by acceleration by a relativistic blast wave is derived. It is shown that forward shocks from long GRB in the interstellar medium are powerful enough to produce the Galactic cosmic-ray component up…
The Galactic cosmic ray spectrum is a remarkably straight power law. Our current understanding is that the dominant sources that accelerate cosmic rays up to the knee ($3 \times 10^{15}$ eV) or perhaps even the ankle ($3 \times 10^{18}$…