Related papers: The mass composition of cosmic rays above 10^17 eV
Based on general considerations rather than model-dependent fits to specific scenarios, we argue that an increase with energy of the positron fraction in cosmic rays, suggested by several experiments at E>~7 GeV, most likely requires a…
The method of a determination of the Primary Cosmic Ray mass composition is presented. Data processing is based on the theoretical model representing the integral muon multiplicity spectrum as the superposition of the spectra corresponding…
A review of the status of the knowledge in the field of High-energy cosmic particles is presented. The spectrum, arrival direction distribution and composition measurements are summarized, together with some implications for the…
The universe should be dark at energies exceeding $\sim 5\times 10^{19}$ eV. This simple but solid prediction of our best known particle physics is not confirmed by observations, that seem to suggest a quite different picture. Numerous…
Research in cosmic rays is now nearly a century old, but most of the fundamental questions in this field remain unanswered, on the other hand the perspectives of future studies in the next decade are very bright. New detectors will provide…
We introduce neutrino astronomy from the observational fact that Nature accelerates protons and photons to energies in excess of 10^{20} and 10^{13} eV, respectively. Although the discovery of cosmic rays dates back close to a century, we…
Our Galaxy is the largest nuclear interaction experiment which we know, because of the interaction between cosmic ray particles and the interstellar material. Cosmic rays are particles, which have been accelerated in the Galaxy or in…
We study the deflection of ultra high energy cosmic ray protons in different models of the regular galactic magnetic field. Such particles have gyroradii well in excess of 1 kpc and their propagation in the galaxy reflects only the large…
The origin of Galactic cosmic rays (with energies up to 10^15 eV) remains unclear, though it is widely believed that they originate in the shock waves of expanding supernova remnants. Currently the best way to investigate their acceleration…
The impressive power-law decay of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays over more than thirty orders of magnitude in intensity and for energies ranging over eleven decades between $\simeq 10^9 $eV and $\simeq 10^{20} $eV is actually dotted…
We investigate the possibility that ultra high energy cosmic rays (E > 10^19 eV) are related to the distribution of matter on large scales. The large scale structure (LSS) data stems from the recent IRAS PSCz redshift survey. We present…
Cosmic rays are the most outstanding example of accelerated particles. They are about 1\% of the total mass of the Universe, so that cosmic rays would represent by far the most important energy transformation process of the Universe.…
Accurate measurements of the lateral distribution of extensive air showers produced by cosmic rays of energy greater than $10^{17}$ eV were made in the 1970s by Linsley. At the time, the state of knowledge about the best hadronic…
High energy cosmic rays allow probing phenomena that are inacessible to accelerators. Observation of cosmic rays, presumebly protons, with energies beyond $4 \times 10^{19} eV$, the so-called Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cut-off, give…
More than 100 years after the discovery of cosmic rays and various experimental efforts, the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (E > 100 PeV) remains unclear. The understanding of production and propagation effects of these highest…
The properties of galactic cosmic rays are investigated with the KASCADE-Grande experiment in the energy range between $10^{14}$ and $10^{18}$ eV. Recent results are discussed. They concern mainly the all-particle energy spectrum and the…
Recent studies, supported by updated hadronic interaction models, suggest that the mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays may be heavier than previously assumed. This has significant implications for source identification, as the…
The origin and nature of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with energies above $10^{20}\,$eV is a puzzle for the physics and astrophysics of cosmic rays which is still unresolved. In this paper, I report on an extensive study on the propagation…
Experimental results on ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are briefly reviewed and their interpretation is discussed. The results related to principal observables (arrival directions, energies and composition) of primary particles of extended…
After a brief review of galactic cosmic rays in the GeV to TeV energy range, we describe some current problems of interest for particles of very high energy. Particularly interesting are two features of the spectrum, the `knee' above…