Related papers: The mass composition of cosmic rays above 10^17 eV
This review summarizes recent developments in the understanding of high-energy cosmic rays. It focuses on galactic and presumably extragalactic particles in the energy range from the knee (10^15 eV) up to the highest energies observed…
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 production of energetic particles in the universe remains one of the great mysteries of modern science. The mechanisms of acceleration in astrophysical sources and the details about the propagation through the galactic and extragalactic…
The origin of the highest-energy cosmic rays remains a mystery. The lack of a high energy cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum together with an apparently isotropic distribution of arrival directions have strongly constrained most models…
Adjusted data on the fraction of protons in the mass composition of primary cosmic rays (PCRs) in the energy range of 10^15-10^17 eV are presented. Adjustments are made according to detailed calculations of the response of the X-ray…
The determination of the mass composition of the highest energy cosmic rays is one of the greatest challenges in cosmic ray experiments. The highest energy cosmic rays are only detected indirectly because of their very low flux. Using the…
Detailed composition measurements can be a very powerful means of tracing origins, a fact used regularly by forensic scientists and art historians. One of the main motivating factors for making detailed observations of cosmic rays was…
Contrary to expectations, several cosmic ray events with energies above $10^{20}$ eV have been observed. The flux of such events is well above the predicted Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff due to the pion production (via the $\Delta$…
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…
Cosmic ray particles with energies in excess of 10**(20) eV have been detected. The sources as well as the physical mechanism(s) responsible for endowing cosmic ray particles with such enormous energies are unknown. This report gives a…
The Sun stands out as the closest and clearest astrophysical accelerator of cosmic rays, while other objects within and beyond the galaxy remain enigmatic. It is probable that the cosmic ray spectrum and mass components from these celestial…
Reasons for the current interest in cosmic rays above 10^19 eV are described. The latest results on the energy spectrum, arrival direction distribution and mass composition of cosmic rays are reviewed, including data that were reported…
The strength and spectrum of the extragalactic magnetic field are still unknown. Its measurement would help answer the question of whether galactic fields are purely a primordial relic or were dynamically enhanced from a much smaller…
Observations of cosmic rays with energies above ~ 4 x 10^{10} GeV have inspired several speculative suggestions concerning their origin. The crucial question is whether or not the spectrum exhibits the expected `GZK cutoff' at this energy…
We discuss theoretical issues and experimental data that brought the ultra high energy cosmic rays in the list of Nature's greatest puzzles. After many years of research we still do not know how astrophysical acceleration processes can…
Cosmic rays are a sample of solar, galactic and extragalactic matter. Their origin and properties are one of the most intriguing question in modern astrophysics. The most energetic events and active objects in the Universe: supernovae…
Charged cosmic rays have been measured up to macroscopic energies. Concerning neutrinos, the detection is still limited to terrestrial ones (apart from supernova production). A new way to search for extragalactic neutrinos is discussed.
We investigate the dependence of composition, spectrum and angular distributions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays above 10^19 eV from individual sources on their magnetization. We find that, especially for sources within a few megaparsecs…
We present spectra and mass composition of cosmic rays incoming to the Earth in the energy range (0.5-2)10^20 eV. As their sources we consider Seyfert galaxies located at distances < 40 Mpc, following an acceleration model for such…
Cosmic rays have been observed up to energies $10^8$ times larger than those of the best particle accelerators. Studies of astrophysical particles (hadrons, neutrinos and photons) at their highest observed energies have implications for…